HN 

SO 


EXCHANGE 


The 

Furnished  Room 
Problem 

IN  PHILADELPHIA 


By 

Franklin  Kline  Fretz 


A  Thesis  Presented  to  the  Faculty  of  the 
Graduate  School  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
in  Partial  Fulfillment  of  the  Require- 
ments for  the 
Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy 


THE 

FURNISHED  ROOM 
PROBLEM 

IN  PHILADELPHIA 


By 

FRANKLIN  KLINE  FRETZ 


A  Thesis  Presented  to  the  Faculty  of  the 
Graduate  School  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in 

Partial  Fulfillment  of  the  Require- 
ments for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy 


, 


CONTENTS 

PAGES 

The  Rooming  District  5-18 

The  Evolution  of  the  District 19-24 

The  Boarding  House 25-41 

The  Furnished  Room  House 42-59 

Furnished  Rooms  for  Housekeeping 60-66 

The  Economic  Condition  of  the  Roomer 67-75 

The  Social  Condition  of  the  Roomer 76 

(a)  The  Church 76-89 

(b)  The   Schools 90-95 

"        "  "          (c)  Amusemenfe 95-108 

"        "  "          (d)  The  Saloon 108-115 

"        "  "          (e)   Booze  Parties.  ...116-119 

"          (f)    Agencies   for  Up- 
lift   119-126 

The  Social  Condition  (g)  Prostitution  and 

Crime 126-142 

The  Social  Condition  (h)  Use  of  Drugs 142-148 

Summary   149-169 


251395 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM  IN 
PHILADELPHIA. 


This  study  deals  with  investigations  made  in  the 
furnished  room  district  of  Philadelphia.  This  dis- 
trict is  difficult  to  define  and  is  constantly  changing. 
A  compact  furnished  room  district  in  Philadelphia 
may  be  found  in  the  6th,  10th,  llth,  12th,  13th  and 
14th  ward®,  which  comprise  that  section  of  the  city 
bounded  by  Chestnut  street  on  the  south  and  Pop- 
lar street  on  the  north,  the  Delaware  river  on  the 
east,  and  Broad  street  on  the  west.  For  the  purpose 
of  studying  the  problem  and  reaching  an  historical 
explanation  of  the  same  we  consider  this  large  dis- 
trict. In  our  actual  investigations  of  the  roomer 
and  his  problems  we  have  confined  our  researches  to 
small  typical  districts. 

In  this  study  we  want  to  find  out  why  the  furnish- 
ed room  district  is  here  rather  than  elsewhere; 
through  what  evolutions  it  has  gone;  what  may  be 
its  future  development;  and  what  new  social  prob- 
lems it  furnishes  or  what  old  ones  it  accentuates. 
We  shall  consider  the  problem  of  the  owner  of  the 
house  as  well  as  that  of  the  occupant.  The  investi- 
tigations  have  been  conducted  for  this  purpose,  and 
present,  therefore,  (1)  The  economic  problem,  (2) 
The  social  problem  characterizing  the  district,  in- 
cluding inquiries  into  the  life  of  the  lodger  or  room- 


6  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

er,  his  family  life,  his  amusements,  etc.  The  church- 
es and  schools  in  relation  to  the  roomer;  the  saloon 
and  its  problem.  (3)  The  problem  of  crime  and  vice. 
(4)  Vital  statistics. 

To  trace  the  evolution  of  the  district  it  would  be 
necessary  to  include  the  whole  history  of  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  This  is  impossible.  Watson,  in  his 
annals  of  Philadelphia,  and  other  writers  as  well, 
have  given  us  a  mass  of  material  dealing  with  the 
social  condition  of  the  city  in  early  times.  Phila- 
delphia has  always  been  famed  for  its  comfortable 
homes.  The  lower  part  of  the  district,  which  forms 
the  basis  of  our  studjy  in  earlier  years,  contained  the 
homes  of  the  gentry  of  Philadelphia.  Up  to  1800 
all  of  the  best  and  richest  merchants  of  Philadelphia 
dwelt  under  the  same  roofs  with  their  stores  on 
North  Front  street.  After  the  merchants  began  to 
change  their  homes  from  Front  street  and  the  shores 
of  the  Delaware  to  the  western  outskirts  of  the  city, 
the  improvement  of  Philadelphia  became  rapid  and 
great.  "It  may  mark  the  character  of  the  change  to 
state,  that  when  Mr.  Miarkhoe  built  the  large  double 
house  out  High  street,  between  Ninth  and  Tenth 
streets,  in  the  front  centre  of  a  fenced  meadow,  it 
was  so  remote  from  all  city  intercourse,  that  it  used 
to  be  a  jest  among  his  friends  to  say,  "He  lived  out 
High  street,  next  house  but  one  to  the  Schuylkill 
ferry."  (Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia,  Vol.  I, 
p.  225.) 

People  were  surprised  in  the  beginning  of  the  19th 
century  that  merchants  would  leave  their  former  old 


THE  ROOMING  DISTRICT  7 

dwellings  in  excellent  condition  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Delaware  and  move  out  to  Ninth  and  Chest- 
nut or  Arch  streets,  where  there  were  no  pavements 
and  no  street  lights.  Gradually  business  and  com- 
mercial interests  drove  out  the  old  inhabitants  from 
the  river  front;  then  the  retail  stores  had  to  give 
way  to  the  large  wholesale  houses  and  shipping  places 
which  are  found  along  the  river  front,  and  extending 
for  blocks  along  the  principal  intersecting  thorough- 
fares up  from  the  river  such  as  Chestnut,  Market, 
Arch  and  Race  streets.  Arch  street  had  no  stores  in 
any  part  of  it  sixty  years  ago.  Today  it  is  one  of 
the  principal  streets  of  wholesale  trade  in  the  city. 
We  see  a  gradual  evolution  in  this  district  due  to 
the  great  economic  changes  which  caused  the  growth 
and  development  of  the  city. 

Some  of  the  comfortable  homes  of  old  Philadel- 
phians  now  used  as  boarding  and  rooming  houses 
were  built  about  seventy-five  years  ago.  Still  others 
were  erected  at  a  much  later  period.  The  change 
in  the  district  from  a  residential  to  a  business  sec- 
tion has  been  sure  though  gradual.  The  Hon.  Jona- 
than Roberts  wrote  of  the  conditions  existing  in  the 
city  in  1836,  saying :  "I  have  been  accustomed  for  a 
few  years  past,  to  make  use  of  New  Year's*  day,  some- 
what like  a  New-Yorker,  as  a  special  occasion'  for 
visiting  the  city,  and  there  to  hunt  up  my  earlier 
and  least  familiar  acquaintances — thus  to  keep 
alive  early  recollections  and  to  preserve  their  respect 
and  remembrance.  In  January,  1836,  I  made  calls 
upon  as  many  as  twenty  families.  I  pass  by  the 


8  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

notice  of  themselves  personally — such  as  their  own 
waning  persons,  and  their  new  and  growing  proge- 
nies just  starting  out  in  life  where  I  had  once  begun 
— as  I  wish  only  to  notice  the  wonderful  changes  of 
their  houses  in  furniture  and  in  amplitude  of  rooms, 
etc.  The  whole  is  such  as  to  fully  convince  me,  that 
I  can  no  longer  employ  my  pen.  to  illustrate  the 
changing  manners  and  times  of  our  city.  I  must 
be  done  with  that.  I  can  only  say  now  in  general 
terms,  that  the  change  from  the  olden  time  is  so  en- 
tire, and  that  the  traces  of  the  past  are  so  wholly 
effaced,  that  here  is  now  scarcely  a  vestige  left.  The 
former  was  an  age  by  itself  of  homely  and  domestic 
comfort,  without  pomp,  parade  or  show;  and  this  is 
now  an  entire  age  of  luxuriy  and  cumbrous  pomp. 
Now  our  merchants  are  princes,  and  our  tradesmen 
are  men  of  fortune;  all  dwell  in  palaces.  The  for- 
mer little  parlors  are  gone;  even  large  parlors  now 
are  not  enough — but  two  must  be  permanently  cast 
into  one,  by  double  doors, — this  not  for  family  use 
and  comfort  (they  are  too  refined  and  delicate  for 
use),  but  for  admiration  and  for  show,  while  the 
family  itself,  for  the  sake  of  indulgence  and  free- 
dom, seek  other  apartments  behind,  or  upstairs,  or 
in  the  basement  story.  These  big  rooms  are  neces- 
sary because  social  visits  being  no  longer  in  vogue, 
but  superseded  by  parties,  they  must  have  halls  suf- 
ficiently large  to  hold  their  semi-annual  gatherings. 
It  is  really  astonishing  to  contemplate  the  class  of 
citizens  who  hold  such  houses,  and  the  annual  ex- 
penditures they  make,  even  in  the  same  relations  in 


THE  ROOMING  DISTRICT 

business  wherein  their  fathers  could  live  only  mod- 
erately and  frugally.  One  has  only  to  walk  along 
any  given  fashionable  street,  and  read  the  names  on 
the  costly  dwelling  houses,  and  see  how  generally 
they  comprise  the  class  of  fortunate  dealers  in  all 
manners  of  merchandise  and  trades,  one  cannot  but 
wonder  how  so  many  families  can  find  means  to  sus- 
tain their  freedom  of  expense.  It  is,  in  fact,  so  com- 
mon now  to  be  lavish  in  show,  that  riches  can 
scarcely  confer  distinction.  Surely  we  have  a  won- 
derful country  where  the  road  to  wealth  is  so  broad 
and  safe — wherein  so  many  travel  and  "go  ahead." 
We  wonder,  indeed,  how  long  it  may  continue." 

Today  the  glory  of  these  stately  mansions  of  less 
than  two  generations  ago  has  departed.  Man'y  have 
been  torn  down  to  be  replaced  by  immense  wholesale 
houses,  industrial  establishments  and  factories. 
Here  and  there  a  few  still  stand,  silent  monuments 
of  the  glory  of  the  past,  and  indicative  of  the  great 
economic  forces  which  are  making  all  things  new. 
There  is  something  of  melancholy  sadness  in  the 
plaint  of  a  few  old  residents  who  still  linger  in  the 
district  and  say:  "This  section  of  the  city  is  not 
what  it  used  to  be."  The  former  glory  of  the  dis- 
trict has  departed  forever.  No  one  will  ever  know 
the  heart-breaks,  the  tragedies  enacted  in  the  giving 
up  of  homes  full  of  associations  and  sacred  memo- 
ries and  see  them  give  way  before  the  onward  and 
resistless  march  of  "business",  or  in  seeing  them 
occupied  by  people  of  foreign  birth  or  by  the  "bar- 
barians" from  the  country. 


10  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

This  district,  then,  was  once  a  city  of  private 
homes;  now  it  is  a  mixture  of  stores,  large  business 
houses  catering  to  a  wholesale  and  retail  trade,  tene- 
ments and  lodging-houses;  while  many  of  the  small- 
er streets  are  filled  with  a  distinct  negro  population. 
"Chinatown"  is  found  within  the  boundaries  of  our 
district.    Fully  three-fourths  of  the  older  residences 
not  occupied  by  foreigners  who  have  settled  in  parts 
of  this  district  are  "furnished  room  houses."   Built 
in  the  fifties,  sixties  and  seventies,  they  served  their 
purposes  as  the  homes  of  Philadelphia's  prominent 
merchants  and  professional  men,  for  a  generation 
or  more,  and  then  a  transformation  came  which  was 
almost  startling  in  its  suddenness.     The  economic 
forces  were  stronger  than  the  sentiment  of  the  own- 
ers, and  consequently  prevailed.    Some  of  the  older 
inhabitants  lingered  on  determined  to  keep  up  the 
appearance    of    the    district,    but    the    destructive 
forces  were  too  strong  for  them.     Style  changes  in 
the  character  of  the  homes  of  a  people  just  as  surely 
as  it  does  in  matters  of  dress.     Those  who  have 
moved  from  the  district  into  the  suburbs  and  have 
superintended  the  erection  of  their  own  homes,  have, 
in  no  cases,  modeled  them  after  their  former  homes 
in  the  heart  of  the  city.     Whole  rows  of  the  old 
houses  were  built  on  the  same  plan.    There  was  no 
individuality  exercised  on  their  construction.     On 
the  first  floor  were  the  double  parlors,  the  dining 
room,  the  kitchen,  with  one  or  two  out  kitchens.  The 
parlors   are  high-ceiled,   with   a  large   amount   of 
stucco-work  which  characterized  the  houses  built  a 


THE  ROOMING  DISTRICT  11 

generation  ago.  They  also  have  large  marble  man- 
tle-pieces, and  some  have  a  stained  glass  window. 
Where  there  are  two  parlors  they  are  usually  con- 
nected by  sliding  doors.  In  some  old  houses  these 
doors  are  of  mahogany.  On  the  second  floor  are  the 
front  bed-room  with  an  elaborate  wardrobe,  the 
rear  bed-room,  the  bath-room  with  a  large  tub  and 
stationary  wash-stand  and  a  sitting-room  in  the 
rear.  On  the  third  floor  are  from  two  to  four  square 
rooms  painfully  alike  in  construction.  The  heat  is 
furnished  by  hot  air  furnaces,  in  most  instances  in- 
adequate in  winter  weather.  How  different  these 
houses  with  their  marble  fronts  and  steps  from  the 
houses  in  the  suburbs  with  comfort  and  individu- 
ality characterizing  every  feature. 

There  is  a  danger,  in  every  investigation  of  this 
character,  of  having  it  assume  too  wide  a  scope,  and 
becoming  worthless.  We  will  not  consider,  there- 
fore, the  great  business  places  that  have  sprung  up 
in  the  district.  Here  are  found  some  of  the  finest 
and  best  equipped  department  stores  in  America. 
Four  or  five  of  them  would  be  a  credit  to  any  city. 
One  store  just  completed  has  two  hundred  and  sev- 
enty acres  of  floor  space  and  employs  an  army  of 
seventy-five  hundred  clerks.  Here  are  found  the 
great  banking  institutions  and  trust  companies 
which  have  made  Philadelphia  famous.  The  leading 
theatres  are  found  in  the  district  or  on  its  very  con- 
fines. The  Girls'  Normal  School  of  Philadelphia 
is  almost  in  the  center  of  the  district.  The  Com- 
mercial High  School  for  girls  was  in  the  district 


12  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

until  the  completion  of  the  new  William  Penn  High 
School  for  Girls  in  1909.  The  Boys'  High  School  is 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  which  marks  the 
western  boundary  of  the  district.  The  Reading  Ter- 
minal, which  is  the  railroad  station  of  the  Beading 
system,  is  in  the  district,  and  the  tracks  of  this  road 
traverse  it. 

It  is  necessary  to  state  these  facts  in  giving  a  de- 
scription of  the  district.  So  far  as  some  of  these 
institutions  are  of  human  interest,  and  bear  upon 
our  specific  problem,  we  shall  have  occasion  to  men- 
tion them  again  in  our  discussion  of  the  problem. 

We  have  said  enough  to  show  that  this  district 
under  consideration  is  not  a  "Furnished  Room  Dis- 
trict" pure  and  simple.  There  is  no  such  district 
in  Philadelphia.  Small  typical  districts  might  be 
found  in  other  sections  of  the  city  which  would  be 
more  expressive  of  the  term  "Furnished  Room  Dis- 
trict." This  district  has  been  selected  because  it 
-  shows  the  natural  evolution  more  satisfactorily.  The 
problems  of  the  "roomer"  are  the  same  everywhere. 
He  is  the  product  of  certain  definite  forces  which 
we  shall  consider  in  this  study. 

We  do  not  intend  making  a  study  of  the  old-fash- 
ioned boarding-house  which  is  fast  passing  out  of 
existence.  Here,  too,  we  shall  have  occasion  to  make 
frequent  references  and  comparisons.  Nor  do  we  in- 
tend entering  into  a  discussion  of  the  cheap  lodging 
houses  conducted  by  charitable  societies  for  the  solu- 
r  tion  of  the  problem  of  vagrancy.  It  is  the  lodging 
house  we  will  discuss.  The  lodging  house,  or  as  it 


THE  ROOMING  DISTRICT  13 

is  commonly  known  in  Philadelphia,  the  "Furnished 
Room  House"  must  be  distinguished  from  the  apart- 
ment house  on  the  one  hand  and  from  the  tenement 
house  on  the  other.  The  apartment  house  is  a  fam- 
ily house,  so  is  the  tenement.  They  are  intended  for 
housekeeping.  The  furnished  room  house  is  cut  up 
into  small  rooms  and  is  generally  intended  for  un- 
married men  and  women  who  sleep  there,  and  get 
their  meals  at  some  restaurant  or  cafe  outside  the 
house.  The  "Furnished  Room  House"  never  gives 
board.  The  "Furnished  Roomer"  is  not  a  boarder; 
he  is,  as  the  term  implies,  only  a  "roomer".  He  has 
never  been  the  subject  of  much  study  or  concern. 
In  New  York,  Chicago,  Boston  and  St.  Louis,  the 
place  in  which  he  lives  is  called  a  rooming-house; 
in  Philadelphia,  the  generally  applied  term  is  a 
"furnished  room  house."  It  is  a  distinct  type  of 
itself,  and  is  found  everywhere  in  the  district  we 
have  selected  for  its  study. 

The  population  of  this  district,  according  to  the 
census  of  1910  was: 

6th  Ward   6,374      12th  Ward   15,152 

10th  Ward    19,426      13th  Ward   19,769 

llth  Ward   11,619      14th  Ward  19,477 

A  comparison  of  the  population  of  the  district 
with  previous  years  and  with  the  growth  of  the 
whole  population,  will  be  made  later.  The  children 
of  school  age  in  the  district  according  to  the  school 
census  (6  to  16  years  of  age),  number  ten  thousand, 
two  hundred  and  eighty-five. 


14  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

We  shall  take  up  the  whole  matter  of  population 
under  the  subject  of  population.  Suffice  it  at  pres- 
ent to  state  that  we  are  considering  a  district  with 
a  population  of  about  one  hundred  thousand.  To 
learn  the  economic  motives  that  have  caused  the 
evolution  of  this  district,  and  to  know  the  social 
status  and  moral  conditions  found  therein,  is  the 
purpose  of  this  study. 

The  dearth  of  statistical  data  handicaps  the  in- 
vestigator on  every  hand.  This  is  especially  the  case 
in  dealing  with  the  vital  statistics  of  any  given  dis- 
trict in  our  city.  Great  improvements  in  the  mat- 
ter of  preserving  and  tabulating  records  have  been 
made  in  recent  years,  and  the  records  of  Philadel- 
phia today  are  as  complete  as  the  records  of  any 
first-class  American  city.  The  value  of  social  statis- 
tics for  small  areas  is  not  understood  at  present, 
or,  if  understood,  is  not  possible  because  of  the 
meagre  appropriations  for  the  purpose  of  gathering 
statistics.  Under  the  general  head  of  Vital  Statis- 
tics we  expect  to  deal  with  the  subject  of  birth  and 
death  rates,  marriage,  sex-distribution,  sickness  and 
health,  diseases  characteristic  of  the  district,  causes 
of  death  and  other  social  phenomena.  We  will  now 
discuss  the  general  movement  of  population  in  the 
city  and  the  specific  district. 

Population   of  Philadelphia,   Including   the   Territory 
of  the  County. 

1683    500      1740    24,250 

1700    4,500      1760    47,191 

1720    9,975      1790    82,913 


THE  ROOMING  DISTRICT  15 

1800    122,229      1830    269,259 

1810    164,982      1840    351,702 

1820    200,889      1850    529,838 

Same  area  after  consolidation  in  1854. 

1860    565,529      1890    1,046,964 

1870    674,022      1900    1.293,697 

1880    847,170      1910    1,549,008 

Although  Philadelphia  is  225  years  old,  nearly  one- 
third  of  its  population  has  been  gained  during  the 
past  twenty  years.  The  tendency  of  population  to 
congregate  in  cities  is  the  acknowledged  feature  of 
our  modern  civilization.  It  is  a  worldwide  tend- 
ency. London  is  two  thousand  years  old,  and  yet, 
it  has  gained  four-fifths  of  its  population  in  the 
past  century.  Paris  multiplied  its  population  five 
times  in  a  hundred  years.  Odessa  is  one  of  the  old- 
est cities  in  the  world,  yet  nineteen-twentieth  of  its 
population  was  gathered  in  the  last  century.  Cairo, 
typical  of  all  that  is  old  and  degenerate,  and  to  the 
superficial  observer  all  that  has  ceased  growing,  has 
doubled  its  population  in  fifty  years.  In  our  own 
continent,  Montreal  in  Canada,  has  grown  in  fifty 
years  from  sixty  thousand  to  four  hundred  thousand ; 
Toronto,  in  the  same  period,  from  twenty-five  thou- 
sand to  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  A  world 
movement  of  population  from  country  to  city  is, 
therefore,  proven  by  every  known  rule  of  evidence. 
Philadelphia  is  no  exception  to  the  cities  that  have 
been  affected  by  this  world  movement.  To  add  one- 
third  to  its  population  in  twenty  years  is  a  record 
exceeded'  by  few  cities  in  America  as  old  as  Phila- 
delphia. 


16  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

This  remarkable  growth  of  the  city  is  due  to 
many  causes,  the  chief  of  which  is  that  of  trans- 
portation. To  understand  the  problem  of  the  city's 
growth  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  original 
boundaries  of  Philadelphia  were  the  Delaware 
River  on  the  east  and  the  Schuylkill  on  the  west, 
including  all  the  territory  between  Vine  and  South 
streets.  Today  we  find  outside  of  the  old  city,  popu- 
larly supposed  to  include  the  city's  financial  and 
business  district,  fourteen  national  banks  with  capi- 
tal and  surplus  amounting  to  $10,500,000  supple- 
mented by  twenty-four  trust  companies,  with  an 
aggregate  capital  and  surplus  in  excess  of  $11,000,- 
000,  making  thirty-eight  banking  institutions 
employing  capital  of  $21,500,000  situated  outside  of 
the  supposed  financial  and  business  centre  of  the 
city. 

The  area  of  the  old  original  city  today  contains 
lees  than  two  per  cent  of  Philadelphia's  total  area 
and  eight  per  cent  of  the  city's  population.  The 
old  city,  moreover,  contains  only  seventy-five  miles 
of  highways,  or  five  per  cent  of  the  total  paved 
streets  within  the  city  limits.  The  area  of  the  so- 
called  "outlying  districts"  is  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  and  one-half  square  miles,  as  opposed 
to  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  and  one-fourth 
square  miles  for  the  whole  city.  The  population  of 
the  "outlying"  wards  is  1,400,000  as  compared  with 
the  1,500,000  of  the  entire  city.  To  realize  the  ex- 
tent of  Philadelphia  let  us  assume  City  Hall  as  the 
centre  or  heart  of  Philadelphia.  The  eastern  bound- 


THE  ROOMING  DISTRICT  17 

ary  is  settled  for  all  time  by  the  Delaware  River 
about  one  and  one-fourth  miles  distant,  and  the 
western  boundary  line  is  fixed  by  the  boundary  line 
of  the  adjoining  county  about  four  and  one-half 
miles  distant,  making  an  east  and  west  range  at 
City  Hall  of  five  and  three-fourths  miles.  This  east 
and  west  range  is  very  narrow  in  contrast  with  the 
extreme  northeastern  and  southwestern  boundaries 
of  the  city.  It  is  about  sixteen  miles  as  the  crow 
flies,  to  the  northeastern  boundary  of  Philadelphia 
above  Somerton  while  the  extreme  southwestern 
boundary  in  the  fortieth  ward  on  Darby  Creek  is 
more  than  se^<sn  miles  from  City  Hall. 

While  Philadelphia  developed  rapidly  in  the  dis- 
trict laid  out  by  William  Penn,  there  was  at  the 
same  time  a  vigorous  growth  in  all  the  outlying 
districts.  Many  of  these  settlements  were  located 
a  great  distance  from  the  original  city  and  devel* 
oped  their  own  interests  and  life  independently  of 
the  original  Philadelphia.  This  can  be  readily  un- 
derstood when  we  consider  that  it  required  a  far 
longer  time  to  reach  these  outlying  districts  in  old- 
en times,  by  the  only  methods  of  conveyance  at 
hand,  on  horseback  or  walking,  than  it  takes  the 
traveler  today  to  go  to  New  York  or  Washington. 
An  old  lady  eighty-six  years  of  age,  speaking  of 
ancient  Philadelphia  recently,  said  that  when  she 
was  a  child  a  relative  of  her  family  was  to  be  buried 
at  Somerton.  In  order  to  attend  the  funeral  the 
family  left  for  Somerton  at  noon  of  the  preceding 
day.  It  was  in  the  month  of  March  and  the  roads 


18  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

were  so  bad,  owing  to  the  frost  coming  out  of  the 
ground,  that  they  traveled  until  midnight  without 
reaching  their  destination.  A  kind  farmer  lodged 
them  for  the  night.  An  early  start  was  made  on  the 
following  morning  at  five  o'clock,  and  they  reached 
the  house  just  in  time  for  services  at  nine  o'clock. 
Such  a  story  is  hardly  credible  today,  especially, 
when  we  take  into  consideration  our  present  meth- 
ods of  transportation.  So  wonderful  has  been  the 
transformation  in  the  life  history  of  a  single  indi- 
vidual. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  isolation  of  the  outlying 
sections,  each  little  community  developed  along  in- 
dependent lines,  lived  its  own  life,  developed  its 
own  resources,  and  a  strong  community  feeling,  in 
many  ways  different  from  that  of  Philadelphia. 
This  condition  of  isolation  continued  from  the 
founding  of  Philadelphia  in  1683  up  to  the  consoli- 
dation in  1854.  Thus  for  a  period  of  171  years  this 
condition  of  independent  development  of  the  outly- 
ing districts  had  continued.  The  old  city  of  Phila- 
delphia in  1854  had  assumed  the  whole  of  its  pres- 
ent area  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  and  a  half 
squtfie  miles  and  absorbed  into  its  body  politic 
smaller  communities  located  within  the  county  of 
Philadelphia,  the  new  city  having  at  time  of  con- 
solidation a  population  of  530,000  or  about  one- 
third  of  its  present  population.  We  see  then  a 
remarkable  growth  in  fifty-six  years  of  three  times 
the  population.  Much  of  this  growth  is  due  to  the 
world-wide  tendency  we  have  noted,  of  people  con- 
gregating in  the  large  cities. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DISTRICT. 

The  question  of  transportation  was  the  dominant 
one  in  the  development  of  the  city,  and  its  rapid 
growth  in  recent  years.  The  first  act  passed  in 
America  and  the  first  railway  built  in  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  for  general  commerce,  was  by  the 
state;  it  was  the  Philadelphia  and  Columbia  Rail- 
road, eighty-four  and  one-half  miles  long.  The  first 
car  was  run  over  it  from  Philadelphia  to  West 
Chester  January  25,  1833,  and  after  that  time  the 
road  was  open  for  regular  travel  between  these 
points.  In  the  early  part  of  June,  1834,  the  Phila- 
delphia Gazette  notes  the  fact  that  cars  were  run- 
ning from  Philadelphia  to  Columbia  on.  regular 
fare.  The  second  track  between  Philadelphia  and 
Columbia  was  completed  and  formally  opened  by  an 
excursion  in  which  Governor  Wolf  took  part  on  the 
6th  of  October,  1834.  Passenger  cars  ran  in  Market 
street  long  before  the  days  of  city  passenger  rail- 
ways, and  as  soon  as  the  Market  street  railway  was 
established,  which  was  about  the  year  1833,  they 
ran  from  Eighth  and  Market  streets  to  Broad  street, 
up  Broad  to  Willow  street,  and  out  to  Fairmount 
and  the  Columbia  Railroad  Bridge. 

The  growth  of  the  city,  to  a  large  degree,  was 
coincident  with  the  growth  of  the  street  railway 


20  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

service.  The  street  railways  precipitated  the  expan- 
sion of  the  city  more  than  any  other  cause.  The 
slow,  cumbrous,  and  noisy  omnibuses*  had  to  give 
way  to  the  more  convenient  city  passenger  railways. 
In  June,  1857,  or  three  years  after  the  consolidation 
of  the  city  an  act  was  passed  by  the  Legislature, 
authorizing  the  construction  of  a  track  along  Sixth 
street,  southward  to  Morris  street.  This  road  was 
speedily  built,  and  commenced  operations:  January 
21,  1858,  with  great  success,  running  on  Fifth  and 
Sixth  streets,  from  Frankford  to  Southwark.  At 
succeeding  sessions  of  the  Legislature  laws  for  creat- 
ing several  other  railroads  for  carrying  passengers 
through  the  streets  were  passed,  to  some  of  which, 
especially  through  Chestnut  and  Walnut  streets, 
there  was  much  opposition.  Pamphlets1  were  pub- 
lished, and  some  large  owners  of  property  threatened 
to  sell  out  and  move  away  from  the  route.  Today 
the  street  car  system  has  permeated  the  entire  city. 
By  the  year  1860  the  old  section  of  Philadelphia 
had  a  pretty  well  developed  system  of  street  rail- 
ways. There  were  cars  on  Market,  Chestnut  and 
Walnut  streets,  Eace  and  Vine  streets,  Spruce  and 
Pine  streets,  Green  and  Coates  streets,  Fifth  and 
Sixth  streets,  Fourth  and  Eighth  streets,  and  Seven- 
teenth and  Nineteenth  streets.  With  1860  began  a 
new  era  in  the  growth  of  Philadelphia.  The  popu- 
lation of  the  city  in  1860  was  565,529  and  in  1870 
the  city  had  grown  to  674,022.  Since  that  time  it 
seems  as  though  the  growth  of  the  city  coincides 
with  the  expansion  of  the  street  railway  system. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DISTRICT  21 

Philadelphia  is  preeminently  a  city  of  homes — the 
possession  of  331,000  separate  dwellings  proves  this. 
There  has  always  been  a  demand  for  detached 
homes  in  Philadelphia,  homes  of  individuality, 
beauty  and  comfort,  at  prices  not  above  those  which 
are  asked  and  readily  obtained1  for  houses  in  rows. 
It  is  only  possible  to  live  in  such  a  home  if  there  be 
adequate  transportation  facilities  for  the  workers 
of  the  family  to  reach  their  work  with  some  degree 
of  comfort  and  convenience.  Within  the  past  de- 
cade this  kind  of  building  has  been  carried  on  to  a 
remarkable  extent.  For  a  city  with  the  natural 
surroundings  of  Philadelphia  there  should  be  a  great 
development  in  detached,  individual  home  building. 
The  departure  from  older  methods  consists  mainly 
in  the  fact  that  the  effort  of  designers'  has  been 
directed  to  the  production  of  artistic  dwellings  in 
keeping  with  natural  surroundings,  at  moderate 
cost,  and  to  break  away  from  hard  and  fast  lines  of 
four  walls,  a  cellar  and  roof.  Individuality,  elbow 
room,  convenience  and  comfort — a  bit  of  ground  to 
call  one's  own — plenty  of  fresh  air  and  sunlight, 
have  been  the  influences  which  have  produced  the 
bungalow  now  being  so  extensively  built  in  our 
suburbs  as  well  as  the  more  stately  mansions  of  the 
wealthy.  Improved  transportation  facilities  by 
steam  and  electric  railways  have  made  accessible  a 
great  area  of  desirable  property.  Civilization  has 
removed  the  causes  which  made  congestion  once 
necessary.  Development  of  transportation  has  re- 
moved the  difficulty  of  distance  from  the  business 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 


centre.  This  constant  stream  of  old  residents  mov- 
ing to  the  suburbs  has  changed  the  character  of  the 
district  under  consideration  and  study. 

The  population  movement  in  our  specific  district 
is  interesting.  I  have  tabulated  it  for  five  census 
periods  to  show  the  change. 

1890  1900  1910 

8,712      8,042  6,374 

21,514  19,967  19,426 

12,953  11,843  11,619 

14,170  13,850  15,152 

17,923  17,427  19,769 

20,737  19,405  19,477 

Another  interesting  comparison  may  be  made  by 
taking  the  total  number  of  votes  cast  for  presiden- 
tial electors  in  1868  and  in  1908  in  the  election  pre- 
cincts of  the  district. 

1868  1908 

6th  Ward  2,716  1,341 

10th  Ward  4,468  4,855 

llth  Ward 3,128  1,452 

12th  Ward  3,057  2,004 

13th  Ward  4,040  3,669 

14th  Ward  4,447  3,806 


6th  Ward  .... 
10th  Ward 
llth  Ward  .... 
12th  Ward  .... 
13th  Ward 
14th  Ward 

1870   1880 
.  12,067  10,004 
.  23,353  23.362 
.  14,847  12,929 
.  15,171  14,690 
.  19,945  18,646 
.  22,637  22,353 

Total   21,856 


17,127 


The  official  assessment  by  wards  for  December, 
1910,  shows  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  voters 
in  these  wards.  Not  much  stress,  however,  should 
be  laid  on  this  assessment.  Assessors  are  often 
careless  in  making  assessments  and  it  is  possible 
that  such  an  assessment  would  report  more  than  the 
actual  number  of  voters  in  the  district.  However, 
we  must  remember  that  as  the  character  of  the  dis- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DISTRICT  23 

trict  constantly  changes  from  a  residential  to  a 
furnished  room  district,  the  number  of  voters  would 
increase,  because  there  are  a  proportionately  large 
number  of  men  in  the  furnished  room  business. 

Official   Assessment   for  December,    1910. 

6th  Ward   1,767      12th  Ward   2,698 

10th  Ward   6,248      13th  Ward   5,456 

llth  Ward   1,797      14th  Ward  5,747 

Total   23,713 

If  these  different  figures  prove  anything  they 
show  that  there  has  not  been  a  great  change  in  the 
number  of  people  in  this  district  the  past  fifty 
years.  The  population  is  slowly  decreasing.  This 
decrease  is  due  to  the  exodus  to  the  suburbs  which 
has  been  going  on  the  past  fifty  years.  The  old 
residents  who  have  moved  away  are  amazed  that 
the  loss  in  population  is  not  greater  than  it  has 
been.  This  exodus  on  the  part  of  the  old  families  is 
due  to  the  increasing  popularity  of  the  suburbs  and 
the  ease  with  which  they  may  be  reached.  The  towns 
outside  the  corporate  limits  of  Philadelphia  have 
greatly  benefited  by  this  exodus.  The  expansion 
of  the  electric  service  or  street  railways  of  the  city 
and  of  the  steam  roads  as  well,  especially  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  and  the  Reading,  enables  people 
to  live  in  the  suburbs  with  some  degree  of  comfort. 
Many  of  the  old  homes  in  the  district  have  given 
way  to  the  onward  march  of  business.  A  factory,  a 
department  store  or  other  place  of  business  marks 


24  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

the  site  of  many  a  home  occupied  by  the  gentry  of 
our  city  a  generation  ago.  The  consequence  is  that 
those  residing  in  the  same  territory  today  are  living 
in  a  very  much  more  congested  manner  than  did 
those  a  generation  ago.  We  will  notice  in  this  study 
that  the  furnished  room  house  tends  to  increase  the 
density  of  the  population.  Under  the  head  of  vital 
statistics  we  will  find  also  that  few  children  are  to 
be  found  in  the  lodging  or  furnished  room  district. 
Besides  being  a  social  and  economic  problem  we  will 
also  find  that  the  furnished  room  problem  presents 
grave  moral  issues. 

Before  giving  the  statistics  gathered  on  the 
boarding  house  it  is  necessary  to  call  attention  to 
three  classes  of  houses  in  the  district,  entirely  disr 
tinct  in  character,  but,  quite  frequently  confused: 

First — Boarding  House. 

Second — Furnished  Room  House. 

Third — Furnished  Apartments  for  Housekeeping. 

The  boarding  house  is  a  place  where  meals  and 
lodging  are  furnished  for  a  stipulated  sum  per  day 
or  week.  The  furnished  room  house  furnishes  lodg- 
ing only;  meals  are  never  furnished.  This1  has  led 
to  the  development  of  the  restaurant  business.  The 
furnished  apartments  for  housekeeping  are  from  one 
to  three  rooms  rented  to  a  family  for  the  ordinary 
purposes  of  keeping  house. 


THE  BOARDING  HOUSE. 


There  is  a  decided  trend  from  boarding  houses  to 
furnished-room  houses  in  Philadelphia.  The  United 
States  Government  does  not  differentiate  between 
the  two  in  the  census  statistics.  There  is  data  at 
hand  giving  total  population  in  different  cities. 

Boarding   and    Lodging   House    Keepers    in    the    Ten 
Largest  Cities. 

PROM    VOLUME    ON    POPULATION. 
Tenth  Census.    1880. 


New  York   ... 
Brooklyn    .... 

Chicago     

Philadelphia    . 

St.    Louis    

Boston    

Baltimore 

Cleveland    

Buffalo    

San  Francisco 
Cincinnati    


New   York    ... 

Chicago    

Philadelphia    . 

St.    Louis    

Boston     , 

Baltimore    

Cleveland    

Buffalo     

San  Francisco. 
Cincinnati    . . . , 


•d 

• 

iii 

ttP.3 

32 

Males  Females 

Total 

Population  rtpq 

(4Mb 

386    983 

1,369 

1,206,299 

1,104 

32    186 

218 

566,663 

143    548 

691 

503,195 

728 

108    533 

641 

847,170 

1,321 

142    314 

456 

350,518 

768 

149    452 

601 

362,839 

604 

45    125 

170 

332,313 

1,955 

36    113 

149 

160,146 

1,075 

47     79 

126 

155,134 

1,231 

184    291 

475 

233,959 

492 

44    168 

212 

255,139 

1,203 

Twelfth  Census 

.  1900. 

474    2,813 

3,287 

3,437,202 

1,045 

196    2,151 

2,347 

1,698,575 

723 

208    1,357 

1,565 

1,393,697 

826 

156    1,084 

1,240 

575,238 

463 

148    1,423 

1,571 

560,892 

357 

47      540 

587 

508,957 

867 

41     429 

470 

381,768 

812 

30      359 

389 

352,387 

905 

297    1,173 

1,470 

342,782 

233 

26     819 

345 

325,902 

946 

26  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

Compare  the  table  for  1900  with  the  table  for  1890 
and  we  find  a  very  great  increase  in  the  number  of 
boarding  and  lodging  houses  in  twenty  years.  Un- 
fortunately the  United  States  Census  gives  us-  no 
statistics  for  boarders  and  lodgers.  It  would  be  in- 
teresting if  we  could  ascertain  whether  or  not  there 
is  an  increase  in  the  proportion  of  boarders  to  the 
total  population.  One  thing  is  certain,  the  number 
of  boarding  and  lodging  houses  showsi  a  remarkable 
increase  in  proportion  to  the  total  population.  In 
1880  there  was  one  boarding  or  lodging  house  to 
every  1,321  persons,  and  in  1900  this  proportion  had 
increased  to  one  such  house  for  every  826  persons. 
In  ten  cities  under  consideration,  Baltimore  showed 
the  greatest  increase  in  the  proportionate  number  of 
lodging  and  boarding  houses,  while  Philadelphia 
stood  second. 

The  old-fashioned  boarding  house  seems  to  be  rap- 
idly passing  away,  but  there  still  are  many  left. 
A  grocer  living  in  the  neighborhood  of  Ridge  avenue 
and  Spring  Garden  street,  made  this  statement,  re- 
cently :  "It  is  impossible  to  findj  an  old-- time  board- 
ing house  in  this  neighborhood.  That  means  a 
change  in  the  conditions  of  trade.  Instead  of  sell- 
ing my  potatoes  by  the  barrel  or  the  bushel  and  wait- 
ing until  the  boarding  mistress  could  pay  me,  I  must 
sell  them  to  people  living  in  a  few  rooms  by  the 
quarter  peck  and  get  my  money  at  once.  The  people 
in  this  neighborhood,  living  in  apartments'  are  like 
birds  of  pass-age;  they  are  here  today  -and  gone  to- 
morrow." This  statement  that  there  are  no  longer 


THE  BOARDING  HOUSE  27 

any  boarding  houses  in  the  neighborhood  is  only 
relatively  true.  We  have  a  few  statistics  that  show 
the  passing  away  of  the  boarding  house. 

On  the  lower  side  of  Spring  Garden  street  between 
Eleventh  and  Twelfth  streets  there  are  sixteen 
houses.  They  were  the  dwellings  of  prominent 
Philadelphians  less  than  twenty  years  ago.  An  old 
resident  of  the  neighborhood  recently  said :  "You 
might  as*  well  have  applied  to  the  White  House  for 
board  with  chance  of  success  in  1880  as  to  any  home 
on  the  lower  side  of  Spring  Garden  street."  By  the 
year  1905  there  were  two  private  families  left,  in  this 
particular  block.  The  remaining  houses1  were  board- 
ing houses.  In.  each  of  these  it  wasi  possible  to 
secure  room  and  board.  By  1908  the  last  private 
family  had  moved  away.  At  this  time  there  was 
one  boarding  house  in  the  block;  the  remaining 
houses  had  become  rooming  houses.  By  the  spring 
of  1910  this  lone  boarding  house  went  out  of  exist- 
ence. Today  the  whole  block  is  composed  of  rooming 
houses.  The  proprietress)  of  this  last  boarding  house 
remarked  to  one  of  her  boarders  that  she  was  tired 
of  running  a  charity,  and  proposed,  in  the  future  to 
make  some  money.  She  now  conducts  a  "furnished 
room  house." 

In  1905  the  lower  side  of  Mt.  Vernon  street  be- 
tween Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  streets  was  called  a 
boarding  house  sftreet.  Every  house  in  the  block 
with  the  exception  of  two,  took  boarders.  Of  the 
two,  one  house  was  occupied  by  a  private  family  and 
the  other  was  a  "furnished  room  house."  Today 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 


every  house  in  the  block  is   a  "rooming  house;" 
none  take  boarders. 

The  advertisements  in  the  daily  papers  and  the 
signs  in  the  windows  tell  the  tale,  and  are  the  best 
indications  of  the  character  of  the  district.  We  have 
the  number  of  "ads"  that  appeared  in  the  leading 
papers  on  the  same  day  at  different  times.  This  is 
an-  indication  of  the  proportion  of  furnished-room, 
boarding  and  apartments  for  housekeeping  houses 
in  the  district. 

October,   1907. 

Rooms  to  Let  Apartments  Board 


Philadelphia  Press   

Inquirer    14 

Public    Ledger    11 

North   American    8 

Evening  Bulletin   7 

The   Evening    Times    8 

Total    55 

December,  1907. 

Philadelphia  Press    6 

Inquirer    22 

Public    Ledger    10 

North    American    6 

The  Evening  Bulletin   18 

The  Evening  Times   12 

Total    74 

October,   1908. 

Philadelphia  Press   2 

Inquirer   14 

Public  Ledger 7 

North   American    5 

The    Evening   Bulletin    12 

The   Evening    Times    2 

Total    .  42 


11 


11 


In  October,  1907,  fifty-five  furnished  rooms  to  let 
were  advertised  and  fifteen  boarding  houses.  In 
December  of  the  same  year  seventy-four  roomsi  to  let 
were  advertised  and  eighteen  boarding  houses.  This 


THE  BOARDING  HOUSE  29 

remarkable  increase  in  the  number  of  advertisements 
was  due  to  the  panic  which  began  with  the  violent 
break  in  the  stock-market  in  October  of  the  same 
year.  The  force  of  workmen  in  Baldwin's  Locomo- 
tive Works  was  reduced  from  four  thousand,  five 
hundred  and  fifty  men  to  less  than  one  thousand, 
and  these  were  compelled  to  work  on  half  time  and 
less.  Every  industry  in  the  city  was  more  or  less 
affected.  Boarding  and  rooming  houses-  in  some  sec- 
tions of  the  city,  were  almost  deserted.  One  woman 

who  ran  a  boarding  house  at Twelfth  street, 

lost  thirteen  of  her  fourteen  boarders.  They  re- 
turned to  the  homes  of  their  parents  and  friends  in 
the  country  until  the  depression  was  over.  This 
industrial  depression  accounts  for  the  greater  num- 
ber of  advertisements  of  boarding  houses  in  December 
than  in  October.  A  successful  boarding  or  rooming 
house  should  be  filled  in  December.  In  October, 
1908,  one  year  later,  the  papers  had  forty-two  ads 
under  "Booms  to  Let"  and  eleven  under  "Board." 
This  shows  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  vacancies 
from  the  preceding  year.  It  also  shows  that  there 
are  more  houses  that  advertise  for  roomers  than  for 
boarders. 

The  objection  might  be  raised  that  there  are  many 
people  who  do  not  advertise  in  the  daily  papers. 
This  is  true,  not  only  of  those  who  conduct  boarding 
houses,  but  equally  true  of  those  who  conduct  room- 
ing houses.  Some  form  of  advertising  is  necessary 
in  every  business.  A  common  form  of  advertising 
resorted  to  is  the  placing  of  placards  in  the  window, 


30  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

with  the  following  inscription© :  "Furnished  Rooms," 
"Rooms,"  "Rooms  to  Let,"  "Apartments,"  "Apart- 
ments for  Housekeeping,"  "Vacancies,"  "Board," 
"Boarding,"  "Room  with  or  without  Board,"  "Room 
and  Board,"  etc.  In  October,  1909,  and  in  October, 
1910,  we  investigated  and  counted  three  hundred 
signs  in  the  windows  of  the  furnished-room  district 
for  the  purpose  of  which,  we  shall  speak  under 
"Furnished  Rooms."  At  the  same  time  we  also  noted 
the  number  of  signs  advertising  for  boarders. 

October,  1909.     October,  1910. 

Rooms    300  300 

Board     17  14 

Rooms   with   board  19  13 

These  statistics  were  compiled  from  investigations 
in  the  district  north  of  Spring  Garden  street,  and 
between  Tenth  street  and  Broad.  We  see  here  a  re- 
markable preponderance  of  rooming  houses  over 
boarding  houses.  Every  possible  method  of  getting 
at  the  facts  showe  us  that  the  old-fashioned  board- 
ing house  is  going  out  of  existence.  It  was  a  good 
institution.  Up  to  1876  the  modern  "Furnished 
Room  House"  was.  unknown  in  Philadelphia.  In 
that  year  the  Centennial  Exposition  was  held  in 
Philadelphia,  and  thousands  of  visitors  came  to  see 
it.  The  hotels  and  boarding  houses  were  unable  to 
accommodate  the  crowds  so  that  the  homes  of  the 
city  had  to  be  opened  to  entertain1  the  sight-seers. 
Many  of  the  visitors  did  not  car©  to  have  meals 
served  at  the  homes  in  which  they  were  staying.  The 
managers  of  the  boarding  houses  took  advantage  of 
their  opportunity  to  make  money  and  charged  the 


THE  BOARDING  HOUSE  31 

strangers  as  much  for  the  use  of  the  rooms  they 
occupied,  as  they  received  from  their  regular  board- 
ers. To  rent  "rooms"  was  more  profitable  than  to 
furnish  board  in  addition  to  the  rooms.  This  marked 
the  beginning  of  the  custom  of  renting  rooms  which 
because  of  economic  reasons  spread  so  rapidly. 

There  are  many  women  Keeping  boarders  who  are 
making  money  in  the  business.  On  the  other  hand 
there  are  many  failures.  Inexperienced  women  and 
families  come  to  the  city  in  high  hopes  of  making 
a  comfortable  living  in  an  apparently  pleasant  and 
profitable  business.  The  real  estate  agents'  are  very 
careful  not  to  put  a  damper  on  their  enthusiasm  un- 
til they  have  eold  them  the  furniture  and  goodwill 
of  a  house.  They  soon  find  that  they  have  made  a 
mistake.  It  is  hard  to  pay  the  running  expenses. 
In  the  early  summer  the  boarders  vanish,  the  rent 
and  running  expenses  go  on.  The  life  instead  of  being 
pleasant  is1  full  of  monotony  and  petty  troubles. 
Sometimes  the  boarders  cheat  the  landlady  and  they 
continually  annoy  her.  From  confidential  interviews 
\vith  twenty  boarding  house  keepers  we  found  five 
who  declared  they  were  making  money  in  the  busi- 
ness, eleven  who  said  they  could  hardly  make  ends 
meet,  and  four  who  declared  they  had  lost  money. 
Unfortunately  very  few  keep  accounts.  The  income 
of  the  boarding  house  keeper  consists  of  the  money 
she  receives  from  her  boarders.  Her  expenditures 
consist  of  house-rent,  food,  coal,  gas,  wages  to  ser- 
vants, laundry,  replenishing  of  furniture,  carpets, 
etc.  We  append  several  itemized  accounts  that  have 


32  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

been  furnished  us  by  those  who  claim  they  are  suc- 
ceeding in  the  business. 

North  Eleventh  street.     Miss  S.  A.  G , 

proprietress.  Age  42  years.  Single.  Has  no  rela- 
tive in  the  house.  She  is  a  native  American.  Was 
born  in  the  rural  districts  of  Pennsylvania.  Color, 
white.  She  does*  not  receive  any  other  help,  and  has 
no  private  income  excepting  the  interest  on  her 
savings  which  are  small.  Has  conducted  a  boarding 
house  for  sixteen  years.  Has  eight  boarders  and  a 
number  of  table  boarders  whom  she  furnishes  with 
two  meals  a  day,  breakfast  and  dinner  at  6 :30  p.  m. 
Her  house  is  always  full  with  the  possible  exception 
of  a  month  in  summer  time. 

Receipts. 

Eight  boarders,    $5.00  per   week    $2080  00 

Ten  table  boarders  (average),  $3.00  per  week 1560  00 


Total  Income    $3640  00 

Expenses. 

Rent,    $30.00  per   month    $360  00 

Help,    per   annum    308  00 

Coal,    per    annum    100  00 

Gas,   per  annum    36  00 

Laundry,   per  annum    104  00 

Repairs   to   House,    Plumbing,    etc 50  00 


Total   expenses    (excluding  provisions)    $958  00 

She  has  $2683.00  left  for  buying  provisions  for  the 
table  and  for  her  personal  use,  or  an  average  of 
$51.75  per  week.  She  has  absolutely  no  idea  what  it 
costs  to  run  her  table  each  week.  She  thinks  it  costs 
more  to  run  the  table  in  the  winter  and  early  spring 
than  in  the  summer  and  fall.  Nor  has.  she  kept  an 
account  of  her  personal  expenses.  She  dresses'  well 
and  "spends  money  when  she  feels  like  it."  She  is 


THE  BOARDING  HOUSE  33 

able  to  save  an  average  of  two  hundred  dollars  a  year 
besides  carrying  an  endowment  insurance  policy  for 
two  thousand  dollars. 

The  Boarders. 

1.  Medical  student,  Mexican,  30  years  old.  Single. 

2.  Young  lady  who  is  the  fiancee  of  the  Mexican. 
She  is  a  native  born  American,  raised  in  the  coun- 
try, 25  years  old.    Never  married. 

3.  Boy  18  years  old.    Orphan.  Works  in  a  "gent's 
furnishing  store."    Was  born  in  the  country.    Moved 
to  Philadelphia  when  six  years  old.     Both  parents 
died  in  this  city. 

4.  Young  man  22  years  old.    Born)  in  rural  dis- 
trict of  New  Jersey.     Graduate  of  a  Philadelphia 
Business  School.    Doing  clerical  work. 

5.  Cuban,  25  years  old.     Single.     Machinist. 

6.  Dane,  24  years  old.    Single.    Came  to  Amer- 
ica at  age  of  nine.    Goes  to  night  school.     Studies 
Latin,  general  history  and  mathematics.    Is  prepar- 
ing for  college. 

7.  Old  soldier.    Native  born,  64  years  old.    Never 
married. 

8.  Barber.    Pennsylvania  German,  27  years  old. 
Divorced. 

The  house  has  a  parlor  to  entertain  friends  and  a 
place  for  the  table  boarders  to  congregate  before  and 
after  their  morning  and  evening  meals.  The  Danish 
young  man  is  of  high  moral  character,  a  machinist 
by  trade.  He  is  taking  lessons  in  a  night  school  and 
hopes  to  be  able  to  enter  college  in  a  year  or  two, 


34  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

with  the  intention  of  preparing  for  the  ministry 
among  his  own  people.  He  says  the  surroundings 
and  influences  of  that  house  are  better  than  many  in 
which  he  has  lived.  The  only  man  who  leads  an 
openly  immoral  life  is  the  Pennsylvania  German 
barber,  who  had  been  married  but  had  secured  a 
divorce.  This  young  Dane  remarked,  "Whenever  you 
find  a  well-developed  man  opposed)  to  marriage,  you 
will  find  upon  investigation  that  there  is  something 
wrong  with  him."  The  chances  are  he  is  not  leading 
a  moral  life.  It  is  suggestive  that  there  is  not  one 
married  man  or  woman  in  this  house.  The  young 
lady  is  treated  with  respect  by  the  rest  of  the  board- 
ers. She  is  not  engaged  in  any  gainful  occupation. 
Before  she  met  the  Mexican  student  she  was  a  sales- 
woman in  a  department  store,  and  it  is  supposed  the 
Mexican  student  is  paying  her  expenses,  at  present. 
The  Dane  is  the  only  regular  attendant  at  church 
services.  Others  attend  services  occasionally  in  the 
evening.  The  young  lady  is  the  only  one  who  makes 
use  of  a  free  library.  The  Sunday  paper  furnishes 
the  bulk  of  the  reading  matter  in  that  house. 

Green  Street. 

Miss  R ,  proprietress.    Boarding  house. 

Single,  29  years  old.  No  male  relative  in  the  house. 
Born  in  Berks  county,  Pennsylvania.  Sixteen  board- 
ers. Average  $5.50  a  week.  Serves  only  two  meals. 
The  sixteen  boarders  are  all  single  young  men,  rang- 
ing in  age  from  21  to  29  years.  Their  average  age 
is  25  years.  They  are  all  native  born  but  one,  who 
is  a  Russian.  The  native  born  Americans  were  all 


THE  BOARDING  HOUSE  35 

born  in  the  country  with  one  exception,  he  was  born 
in  Philadelphia.  The  Russian  is  the  only  one  who 
is  a  regular  attendant  at  church,  being  a  member  of 
Grace  Baptist  Temple.  Two  or  three  others  go  occa- 
sionally. The  Russian  also  attends  Sunday-school. 
He  is  the  only  one  attending  night  school.  None 
make  use  of  the  free  library.  Classified  according 
to  occupation  there  are: 

Two  druggists^  two  office  clerks,  two  dental  stu- 
dents, one  stenographer,  one  carpenter,  one  insur- 
ance collector,  one  electrician,  one  machinist,  two 
agents  (not  specified),  one  tailor,  two  occupations 
not  known. 

Receipts. 

Sixteen    boards,    $5.50    per    week,    total    $88.00    per 

week,    or   per   month    $381  33 

Expenses. 


Coal    per  month 

10  00 

Gas,   per  month    

2  00 

Help,    per   month    

20  00 

Provisions    per  month 

110  00 

Incidentals   and   repairs    

25  00 

Total     

$312   00 

Total  monthly  receipts    

$381   33 

Total   monthly  expenses    

312   00 

Total  monthly  balance    . 

$69   33 

This  woman  saves  about  $500  each  year  above  her 
expenditures  for  clothing. 

North  Twelfth  Street. 

This  house  is  run  by  a  widow,  who  is  a  Roman 
Catholic.  Her  husband  was  a  Jew.  Her  daughter 
married  one  of  the  boarders  who  was  a  Lutheran. 
When  they  found  they  could  not  be  married  by  a 


36  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

priest  in  Philadelphia  because  of  the  religious  con- 
viction of  the  young  man,  they  ran  away  to  Wil- 
mington and  were  married  there.  This  woman  had 
been  running  a  high-class  boarding  house  at  this 
address  for  several  years.  She  never  kept  any  ac- 
count of  receipts  and  expenses.  She  knew  she  made 
a  good  living  and  that  is  all  she  cared!  about.  Her 
house  accommodates  sixteen  boarders.  It  is  filled  at 
least  nine  months  in  the  year.  The  boarders  pay 
from  $5.00  to  $6.00  per  week.  Two  meals  a  day  are 
furnished.  No  luncheon  is  served'  at  mid-day.  On 
Sunday  breakfast  is  served  at  nine  o'clock  and  a  big 
dinner  at  four  o'clock.  The  boarders  are  men  rang- 
ing from  18  to  30  years.  She  never  takes  women. 
At  the  time  this  information  was  received  she  had 
twelve  with  the  following  occupations: 

Two  bookkeepers,  both  born  in  Pennsylvania. 
Single,  age  23-25.  Three  stenographers  and  type- 
writers, born  in  Lehigh  county,  Pa.,  single,  age  28- 
23-24.  One  clerk  in  Beading  Kailroad  office,  born  in 
Trenton,  N.  J.,  single,  age  23.  One  plumber,  born 
in  Philadelphia,  single,  age  18.  One  machinist,  born 
in  Ohio,  single,  age  27.  One  electrical  engineer, 
born  in  Eastori,  Pa.,  single,  age  28.  One  dental  stu- 
dent, born  in  the  rural  district  of  New  York  state, 
single,  age  22.  One  insurance  collector,  born,  in 
Philadelphia,  divorced,  age  35.  One  shipping  clerk, 
born  in  Bucks  county,  Pa.,  single,  age  24. 

The  rverage  age  of  these  twelve  men  is  exactly  25 
years.  This  woman  paid  $42.00  a  month  rent  and 
had  an  average  income  of  $80.00  per  week.  The 


THE  BOARDING  HOUSE  37 

boarders  were  well  satisfied  with  their  board,  which 
consisted  of  good  substantial  food,  well  cooked.  She 
was  enabled  to  pay  all  her  debts.,  educate  and  clothe 
her  daughter,  and  had  a  comfortable  sum  in  a  sav- 
ings fund.  When  her  daughter  was  married  she 
gave  up  the  business.  She  had  no  idea  whatever  of 
an  average  weekly  expense,  and  was  not  sure  of  the 
amount  she  expended  on  coal  during  the  year. 

North  Tenth  Street. 

Investigated  April,  1908. 

Widow  and  her  sister  run  a  boarding  house.  Al- 
ways did  well  until  the  financial  panic  beginning 
October,  1907.  Had  many  young  men  from  the 
country  until  this  time.  On  account  of  the  alarm- 
ing industrial  depression  many  of  her  boarders  left 
and  returned  to  the  country.  Sixteen  left  in  one 
day  in  November,  1907.  Since  then  she  has  not  been 
able  to  meet  her  expenses.  Neither  has  she  been 
able  to  reduce  the  price  of  the  board  on  account  of 
the  high  prices  of  food  stuffs,  especially  meat.  She 
gets  from  $5.00  to  $7.50  a  week  for  room-rent  and 
board,  depending  on  the  location,  of  the  room.  She 
has  been  in.  business  ten  years  and  never  kept  an 
itemized  account.  At  the  end  of  the  year  she  al- 
ways had  some  money  to  put  in  the  savings  fund. 
This  amount  is  now  being  drawn  on,  to  meet  her 
deficit  during  the  hard  times.  She  always  maintain- 
ed a  public  parlor  where  friends  of  the  boarders 
could  be  received. 


38  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

In  October,  1908,  she  sold  out  her  place  and  moved 
to  Germantown.    The  place  is  now  a  rooming-house. 

N.  Twelfth  Street. 

Mrs.  J ,  proprietress.    Her  husband  left 

her,  but  they  were  never  divorced.  He  is  supposed 
to  be  in  New  York.  He  was  an  inveterate  gambler. 
She  could  not  stand  his  coming  in  from  the  clubs  at 
three  and  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  so  she  locked 
him  out.  He  disappeared.  During  the  time  they 
lived  together,  she  supported  him  by  keeping  board- 
ers. She  kept  a  boarding-house  for  twelve  years,  and 
always  managed  to  get  along,  and  make  a  little 
money.  She  carries  building  and  loan  shares,  and 
life  insurance,  and  has  some  money  in  a  savings 
bank.  She  has  no  children,  and  keeps  no  married 
boarders.  She  never  keeps  any  boarders  who  do  not 
have  regular  employment.  She  will  not  have  any 
one  around  the  house  during  the  day.  At  the  time 
of  this  investigation  (January,  1909),  she  had  four- 
teen men  and  three  girls  boarding  in  her  house.  The 
men  paid  $6.50  a  week  and  the  girls  $5.00  a  week. 
She  packed  lunch  for  all  the  boarders. 

Income. 

Board   (men),   per  week   $91  00 

Board   (girls),   per  week    15   00 


Total  per  week    $106  00 

She  paid  $38.00  per  month  rent.  She  had  no  idea 
of  her  expenses.  She  said :  "I  know  that  I  always 
come  out  or  I  would  not  be  in  the  business."  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1910,  she  sold  out  and  now  conducts  a  "fur- 
nished-room house"  in  West  Philadelphia.  The 


THE  BOARDING  HOUSE  39 

house  now  displays  a  "Furnished  Room"  sign  in  the 
window. 

In  1907  ihere  \\ere  seveni  boarding  houses  on  the 
north  side  of  Green  street  between  Eleventh  and 
Twelfth  streets.  In  December,  1910,  there  was  only 
one  in  existence.  The  change  from  boarding  houses 
to  furnished  room  houses  is  continually  going  on.  It 
is  to  be  regretted,  for  with  all  the  shortcomings  of 
the  boarding  house,  it  possessed1  some  good  features. 
There  was  much  of  the  home  element  in  it.  A  gen- 
eration ago  many  of  the  men  who  are  the  leaders  in 
the  commercial  life  of  our  city  today,  made*  their 
homes  as  young  men  in  the  old-fashioned  boarding 
houses.  They  were  surrounded)  during  this  forma- 
tive period  of  their  lives  with  many  of  the  safe- 
guards of  a  good  home.  There  was  a  public  parlor 
where  they  could  meet  and  entertain  friends.  Gen- 
erally there  was  a  musical  instrument  of  some  kind 
in  the  parlor,  and  the  boarders  congregated  there  in 
the  evening  and  sang  songs,  and)  had  a  good  time  in 
genr-ral.  The  boarders«  knew  each  other,  they  met 
at  the  table  several  time©  a  day,  and  lingered  in  con- 
versation after  dinner  in  the  evening.  The  landlady 
of  the  old-fashioned  boarding  house  took  something 
of  a  personal  interest  in  her  boarders,  and  very  often 
they  were  treated  as  members  of  the  family.  Re- 
cently I  learned  of  a  banker  in  this  city  who  provid- 
ed liberally  for  an  old  lady  who  had  been  his  board- 
ing mistress  from  1867  to  1873.  He  declared:  "She 
has  been  the  making  of  me,  and  I  will  care  for  her 
during  her  earthly  life."  There  was  a  public  parlor 


40  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

in  the  old-fashioned  boarding  house.  Young  ladies 
were  not  compelled  to  entertain  their  men  friends 
in  their  rooms.  A  girl  in  a  "rooming-house"  must 
either  take  her  friends,  if  she  has  any,  both  men 
and  women,  to  her  room  or  meet  them  on  the  street. 
This  is  true  in  Philadelphia  not  only  of  the  students 
in  our  educational  institutions,  but  of  our  store  girls 
and  others.  One  may  draw  his  own  conclusion  as 
to  the  probable  moral  effect  of  a  young  girl  enter- 
taining a  gentleman  caller  in  her  bed-room. 

With  the  decline  of  the  boarding  house  there  has 
been  a  marked  development  in  the  restaurant  busi- 
ness. We  do  not  agree  with  some  who  have  given 
much  thought  to  this  subject,  and  have  reached  the 
conclusion  "that  the  competition  of  the  cafe  is  a 
powerful  force  tending  to  drive  out  of  business  hun- 
dreds of  boarding  house  keepers,  and  to  reduce  them 
to  the  simpler  employment  of  "taking  in  lodgers." 
The  majority  of  young  men  and  women  today  pre- 
fer a  good  boarding  house  where  they  can  secure  a 
room  with  meals  to  a  "furnished  room"  house,  where 
it  is  necessary  to  take  one's  meals  elsewhere.  It  is 
cheaper  to  have  a  room  and  board  under  the  old  plan 
than  to  have  a  room  at  one  place  and  take  meals  else- 
where. The  restaurant  and  dining-rooms-  follow  the 
transition  period,  but  do  not  precede  it.  After  the 
transition  from  boarding  to  "rooming"  had  taken 
place  on  Mt.  Vernon  street,  two  restaurants  were 
opened  up  at  Ridge  avenue  and  Mt.  Vernon  street 
to  accommodate  the  needs  of  the  district.  Two  were 
started  on  Spring  Garden  street  between  Eleventh 


THE  BOARDING  HOUSE  41 

and  Twelfth  streets  after  the  change  had  taken  place 
there.  In  these  dining-rooms  meals  are  eaten  almost 
in  silence.  No  one  has  a  permanent  seat.  The 
"mealer"  comes  in  whenever  he  is  hungry,  takes  a 
napkin  from  a  rack,  and  sits  wherever  he  can  find  a 
vacant  place.  It  is  impossible  to  get  a  "square  meal" 
under  twenty-five  cents.  Breakfast  will  cost  at  least 
twenty  cents,  and  luncheon  will  take  another  twenty- 
five  cents.  Under  the  most  economical  management, 
three  metals  a  day  will  cost  $4.90  a  week.  Add  to 
this  $2.00  for  a  room  and  you  have  a  total  outlay  of 
$6.90  a  week  for  room  and  board.  One  is  disposed 
to  wonder  how  girls  working  in  department  stores  at 
a  wage  of  from  $4.00  to  $10.00  a  week  manage  to 
make  both  ends  meet,  and  dress  as  they  usually  do. 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  HOUSE. 


In  the  investigations  of  the  "furnished  room" 
house  we  have  confined  ourselves  to  a  district  that  is 
"typical,"  bounded  by  Spring  Garden  street  on  the 
south  and  Fairmount  avenue  on  the  north ;  by  Tenth 
street  on  the  east  and  Broad  street  on  the  west.  This 
district  is  about  one  and  one-half  blocks  from  north 
and  south,  according  to  the  city  plan,  and  four  blocks 
from  east  to  west.  From  Green  street  to  Fairmount 
avenue  is  the  longest  block  in  the  city.  Green  street 
is  600  north  and  Fairmount  avenue  700  north;  be- 
tween Green  street  and  Fairmount  avenue  there  are 
three  parallel  streets  as  wide  and  as  imposing  as 
either  Green  street  or  Fairmount  avenue.  These  are 
Mount  Veriion,  Wallace  and  Melon  streets.  Besides 
these  there  are  several  smaller  streets  or  alleys  dense- 
ly populated  by  colored  and  white  residents.  (See 
map.)  We  have  said  that  this  district  is  typical  be- 
cause the  change  from  a  residential  to  a  "rooming 
district"  has  taken  place  within  recent  years  and  is 
continuing  at  present.  There  are  very  few  "board- 
ing houses"  in  this  section,  and  even  fewer  "apart- 
ments to  let."  There  is  one  large  hotel,  the  Lorraine, 
at  the  corner  of  Broad  and  Fairmount  avenue,  which 
is  the  largest  apartment  house,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Majestic,  north  of  Market  street.  Business  in- 
terests have  not  made  many  encroachments  in  this 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  HOUSE  43 

district  as  yet.  Within  the  past  year  (1910)  several 
houses  have  been  torn  down  to  make  way  for  indus^ 
trial  establishments  and  business  offices.  These 
changes  are  taking  place  on  Spring  Garden  street. 
In  other  parts  of  the  district  the  external  character 
of  the  houses  is  the  same  as  it  has  been  since  their 
construction.  One  can  pass  through  the  streets*  in 
any  direction  with  eyes  wide  open  and  gain  no  ink- 
ling of  the  nature  of  the  life  that  goes  on  within  the 
clean  and  genteel  exteriors  of  these  dignified-looking 
houses  that  were  the  homes  of  Philadelphia's  promi- 
nent bufidness  men  and  merchants  until  a  few  years 
ago.  There  is  in  their  external  appearance  very  little 
which  speaks  of  decline;  they  might  still  be  taken 
as  the  residences  of  the  old  families.  But  signs  in 
the  windows  inform  the  most  careless  observer  to 
the  contrary.  "Rooms'  to  let"  is<  a  sign  that  con- 
fronts us  everywhere.  Oni  the  lower  side  of  Spring 
Garden  street  between  Tenth  and  Eleventh,  every 
window  contained  a  "rooming"  sign  in  October, 
1910.  There  is  not  a  single  private  residence  in  that 
block.  Between  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  there  is-  only 
one  private  family  in  the  whole  block  and  they  take 
a  few  boarders,  "because  it  is  too  lonely  to  live  in 
that  large  house  with  a  small  family."  On  the  lower 
side  of  the  same  street  between  Twelfth  and  Thir- 
teenth there  are  two  private  residences,  «ne  of  which 
is  occupied  by  a  physician  and  his  family,  the  other 
by  several  maiden  ladies  who  have  inherited  the 
property  from  their  father  and  intend  to  stay  there 
as  long  as.  they  live.  On  the  same  side  of  the  street 


44  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

between  Thirteenth  and  Broad  there  was  not  a  sin- 
gle "boarding"  or  "rooming-house"  in  1904;  today 
(1911)  there  are  only  three  private  families  on  the 
street,  two  of  whom  are  offering  their  properties  for 
sale.  Practically  the  same  conditions  exist  on,  Green 
street.  There  are  only  nine  private  families-  on  both 
sides  of  the  street  between  Tenth  and  Broad.  On 
Mount  Vernon  street  there  are  no  private  families 
between  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth.  Every  house  on 
both  sides  of  the  street  is  a  "furnished-room  house." 
Eleven  private  families  live  on  Wallace  street  be- 
tween Tenth  street  and  Broad.  There  are  several 
boarding  houses  and  "massage  parlors"  on  this  street. 
The  public  papers  advertise  three  "massage  parlors" 
on  Wallace  street  between  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth, 
and  one  between  Thirteenth  and  Broad.  Melon 
street  is  filled  with  "rooming  houses."  The  houses  on 
Melon  street  are  comfortable  but  not  as  pretentious 
as  the  rest  of  the  houses  in  the  district.  More  of 
the  old  residents  have  remained  on  this  street  than 
on  any  other  in  the  immediate  neighborhood.  About 
one-half  of  the  houses  are  "rooming  houses",  some 
of  which  are  intended  for  colored  roomers.  Nine 
houses  are  now  occupied  by  colored  people  on  Melon 
street  between  Thirteenth  and  Broad,  and  seven 
houses  between  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  streets.  A 
pretentious  apartment  house  for  colored  people  is 
situated  on  Melon  street  between  Twelfth  and  Thir- 
teenth streets.  There  are  several  "massage  parlors" 
on  Melon  street.  Fairmount  avenue  is-  largely  a 
"rooming  street."  Exactly  one-half  the  houses  dis- 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  HOUSE  45 

played  "rooming"  signs  on  Fairmount  avenue  be- 
tween Tenth  and  Broad  in  October,  1910.  Many 
"rooming  houses"  do  not  display  any  signs.  What 
is  true  of  the  cross  streets  is  equally  true  of  the 
streetei  running  north  and  south.  Tenth  street  is 
composed  almost  entirely  of  "rooming  houses."  There 
are  a  number  of  physicians  on  this  street,  but  very 
few  private  families.  Two  private  families  live  on 
Eleventh  street  between  Spring  Garden  and  Green. 
In  1900  there  were  no  "boarding  or  rooming"  houses 
on  Eleventh  street  between  Melon  street  and  Fair- 
mount  avenue.  Now  there  is1  one  lone  resident  liv- 
ing privately  in  this  block  displaying  two  large  signs 
on  the  house,  "For  Sale."  The  same  conditions  are 
true  of  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  streets  and  the  east 
side  of  Broad  street  between.  Wallace  street  and 
Fairmount  avenue.  This  district  is  therefore 
"typical." 

Everywhere  in  this  vicinity  we  are  confronted  by 
the  sign  "Rooms  to  Let."  A  study  of  these  signs, 
generally  placed  in  the  front  window,  and  sometimes 
tacked  on  the  front  door,  is  very  interesting.  Most 
of  them  are  printed  in  large,  plain  type  of  black  on 
white  card-board.  Some  are  lettered  on  glass,  and 
suspended  from  the  front  window  by  a  brass  chain. 
Others  are  on  card-boards  of  black  or  gray  with 
white  letters.  Some  are  lettered  by  hand  on  a  piece 
of  cardboard  that  once  was;  the  lid  of  a  shoe  box  and 
are  quite  amateurish  in  design.  Landladies  will 
often  vary  their  signs.  One  day  you  may  find  a  sign 
in  the  window  reading  "Rooms  to  Let,"  the  next  day 


46  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

"Furnished  Rooms"  greets  you ;  a  week  or  two  later 
you  arc  apprised  of  "Vacancies."  A  comfortable  liv- 
ing is  made  by  men  going  from  house  to  house,  sell- 
ing these  different  signs. 

In  a  canvass  of  the  district  in  October,  1909,  and 
October,  1910,  we  inspected  three  hundred  "rooming" 
signs,  distributed  as  follows: 

October,       October, 
1909.  1910. 

Furnished   Rooms    110  98 

Rooms    47  52 

Rooms  to  Let   19  14 

Apartments    20  23 

Apartments    for    Housekeeping    37  34 

Vacancies    19  32 

Furnished      Rooms      for      Gents      or 

Gentlemen     28  29 

Gents    2  0 

To-L,et-Room     14  18 

Colored  Furnished  Rooms    2  0 

Rooms  and   Chairs   Caned    0 

Rooms — Day    or    Hour    1  0 

Total 300  300 

During  the  working  hours  of  the  day  the  streets 
running  east  and  west  are  almost  deserted.  The 
north  and  south  streets  would  also  appear  deserted 
were  it  not  for  the  street  car  lines  and  other  traffic 
that  passes  through  the  district.  The  "rooming 
house"  population  works  and  the  houses  are  deserted 
by  8.30  in  the  morning.  During  the  early  afternoon 
the  district  is  as  quiet  as  the  suburbs  of  some  coun- 
try town.  In  the  language  of  one  of  the  city  police- 
men, "there  is  nothing  doing  in  this  neighborhood." 
An  old  cab  driver  of  the  Quaker  City  Cab  Company, 
v/ho  has  been  "on  the  seat"  for  thirty  years,  said, 
"The  good  old  days  for  Spring  Garden  and  Green 
streets  are  over.  I  remember  when  they  were  lined 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  HOUSE  47 

^ 

with  cabs  in  the  afternoon  to  take  people  to  theatres 
and)  teas  and  'at  homes.'  We  never  get  a  call  to 
that  district  during  the  day."  No  leisure  classes 
exist  in  this  neighborhood  today. 

When  the  day's  work  is  over  and  the  down-town 
stores,  offices  and  factories  pour  forth  their  living 
streams  of  humanity,  the  district  assumes  a  new  asr 
peet.  Every  passing  trolley  car  drops-  a  number  of 
men  and  women.  A  continuous  stream  of  men  grad- 
ually vanishes  into  the  many  "rooming  houses,"  like 
a  river  flowing  through  a  delta  or  disappearing  in 
some  underground  passage.  By  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening  the  district  assumes  the  same  deserted  ap- 
pearance. All  who  could,  have  gone  to  see  some  play 
or  "movey"  or  have  gone  "down-town"  for  a  stroll. 
Some  have  gone  to  the  "Free  Library"  to  read  the 
daily  papers  and  current  magazines.  Those  who  re- 
main have  gone  to  bed  or  prefer  the  seclusion  of 
their  own  rooms.  There  is  little  sociability  in  this 
district,  for  public  parlors  are  few.  One  can  walk 
along  the  streets  at  night  and  not  see  a  house  with  a 
parlor  lit  up  and  occupied  by  young  folks  playing 
games  or  engaging  in  social  intercourse  or  music  as 
is  the  case  in  other  sections  of  the  city.  The  life 
of  the  average  "roomer"  is  a  solitary  one. 

In  an  investigation  of  one  hundred  houses  it  was 
found  that  only  eleven  had  parlors.  In  two  of  these 
friends  of  the  roomers  who  called  were  asked  to  rest 
until  it  could  be  ascertained1  whether  the  parties 
wanted  were  in  or  not.  The  one  landlady  declared 
it  was  too  expensive  to  furnish  a  parlor  for  the  pur- 


48  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

pose  of  allowing  roomers  to  wear  out  carpets  and 
furniture  in  entertaining  friends.  The  absence  of 
the  public  parlor  is  one  of  the  worst  evils  of  the 
"rooming  house"  life.  In  fact,  it  is  almost  sufficient 
to  condemn  the  whole  system.  A  girl  in  the  "room- 
ing house"  must  either  take  her  friends,  if  she  has 
any,  both  men  and  women,  to  her  room  or  meet  them 
in  the  street.  This  is  true  not  only  of  wage-earners, 
but  of  young  students  in  our  educational  institu- 
tions. 

The  writer  has  in  mind  two  young  girls,  steno- 
graphers by  vocation,  living  in  a  "furnished  room 
house,"  who  have  met  two  young  men  of  moral  pro- 
bity living  in  the  same  house.  These  two  young 
couples  have  become  very  much  attached  to  one  an- 
other, and  live  in  adjoining  rooms  which  communi- 
cate. The  door  between  the  rooms  is  generally  open, 
and  the  parties  make  free  use  of  one  another's  rooms. 
What  would  their  relatives  and  friends  in  the  little 
country  town  from  which  they  have  come,  think  of 
such  conduct  in  that  community?  What  would  they 
themselves  think  of  the  daughter  of  a  private  fam- 
ily granting  free  access  to  a  young  man  who  might 
be  taken  in  as  a  boarder  in  that  home?  You  may 
draw  your  own  conclusion  as  to  the  probable  moral 
effect  of  such  a  course  in  many  instances.  We  have 
been  taken  into  rooms  where  we  have  been  received 
by  young  ladies  in  dressing  sacques  and  kimonos, 
without  any  apology  on  their  part. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  men  and  women  who 
do  so  large  a  part  of  the  city's  work  should  not  have, 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  HOUSE  49 

at  least,  some  substitute  for  home  life,  and  that  more 
opportunities  are  not  given,  them  for  real  recreation, 
and  cultural  association.  It  is  sad  that  they  are 
exposed  so  ruthlessly  and  regardless  of  age  and1  ex- 
perience, to  conditions  which  would  try  the  most 
stable  moral  consciousness.  Need  we  wonder  that 
many  young  girls  and  boys  who  have  come  from  the 
country  go  wrong  in  the  city?  Young  girl®  and 
young  men  will  get  together  until  the  end  of  time. 
The  houses  where  the  poorly  paid  girl  lives  have  no 
accommodations  for  the  entertainment  of  her  boy 
friends.  She  will  meet  them.  If  the  "rooming 
house"  is  conducted  with  any  respect  for  the  conven- 
tions she  cannot  meet  them  regularly  in  her  room. 
She  must  resort  tc  the  street  corner.  As  the  court- 
ship progress a>  they  must  have  recourse  either  to 
the  benches  of  a  public  park,  which  are  filled  early, 
or,  if  the  weather  is  unfavorable,  they  are  compelled 
to  seek  the  warmth  and  light  of  the  back-room  of  a 
saloon.  Some  divines  still  hold  that  marriages  are 
made  in  heaven,  when  the  real  facts  of  the  case  show 
that  many  are  made  in  the  back-room  of  a  saloon. 
If  the  Church  wants  to  engage  in  real  uplift,  a  be- 
ginning might  be  made  by  setting  aside  warm,  cozy 
and  comfortable  rooms  where  young  couples  could 
meet  every  evening  and  spoon  under  chaperonage 
that  would  not  be  too  exacting  or  inquisitive.  It 
might  be  a  step  forward  in  bringing  about  that  gol- 
den age  when  marriages  are  made  in  heaven.  Such 
a  public  parlor  in  our  churches  would  be  welcomed 
and  would  be  of  inestimable  benefit  as-  an  uplifting 


50  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM   PROBLEM 

and  regenerative  farce  with  those  for  whom  it  would 
be  designed.  A  public  parlor  in  a  "rooming  house" 
is  more  necessary  than  a  dainty  bed-room,  or  even  a 
luxurious  table. 

The  lack  of  a  common  parlor  is  universally 
ascribed  to  the  economic  pressures  under  which  the 
landlady  is  laboring.  Almost  without  exception  she 
avers  she  cannot  afford  it,  just  as  she  often  says  she 
cannot  know  too  much  about  her  lodgers.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  under  existing  conditions  the  first  con- 
tention is  true. 

In  the  same  investigation  we  found  that  of  the 
one  hundred  houses,  eighty-nine  were  conducted  by 
women  and  eleven  by  men.  In  most  cases  these  men 
are  the  heads  of  the  family,  but  the  management  of 
the  house  falls  upon  the  wife.  Of  the  eighty-nine 
women,  seventeen  were  married,  forty-two  single, 
nine  were  divorced  and  twenty-two  were  widows. 
Ninety- two  were  native  born  and  eight  were  foreign 
born.  Of  the  foreign  born  six  were  Germans,  one 
Irish  and  one  Scotch.  The  number  of  "roomers" 
were  nine  hundred  sixty-two.  Of  these  six  hundred 
twenty-five  were  males  and  three  hundred  thirty- 
seven  females.  Thus  exactly  sixty-five  per  cent,  of 
the  population  were  males.  The  number  of  houses 
filled  was  fifty-nine  and  forty-one  were  partly  filled. 
The  highest  number  of  "roomers"  occupying  a  sin- 
gle house  was  twenty-nine  and  the  lowest,  one. 

All  statistics,  of  course,  may  be  modified  by  a 
continually  shifting  population.  But  the  statistics 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  HOUSE  51 

will  give  some  indication  of  the  present  evils  to  be 
avoided  and  growing  dangers  to  be  combated.  Side 
by  side  throughout  this  whole  district  are  conditions 
altogether  different.  In  the  same  block  of  houses 
there  are  communities  which  differ  widely  in  charac- 
ter. The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  researches  of  thisi 
kind  are  enormous.  In  matters  which  affect  personal 
affairs,  one's  private  income,  as  well  as  private  char- 
acter, truthful  reports  are  hard  to  obtain.  These 
statistics  on  the  "rooming-house"  have  been  gathered 
from  several  different  sources.  Many  proprietors  of 
"furnished-room  houses'"  and  "boarding  houses" 
freely  volunteered  the  necessary  information,  and 
gave  a  full  account  of  their  business.  But,  in  the 
majority  of  cases  there  were  important  details-  lack- 
ing. The  greater  number  of  women  in  this  business 
do  not  keep  itemized  accounts-  of  their  income  or  ex- 
penses. Few  differentiate  between  private  expenses 
and  those  incurred  in  the  management  of  their  busi- 
ness. Furnished  room  proprietors  do  not  always  re- 
member how  long  their  rooms  have  been  vacant  in 
summer  time,  and  consequently  are  not  able  to  state 
their  annual  loss  from  this  source.  For  most  of  this 
detailed  investigation  we  are  indebted  to  young  men 
who  have  lived  in  the  houses  investigated,  and  who 
are  acquainted  with  the  true  state  of  affairs.  They 
have  given  us  many  suggestions!  and  have  pointed 
out  to  us  new  lines  of  investigation  which  have  been 
very  helpful  in  a  consideration  of  this  subject.  We 
have  absolute  confidence  in  the  figures:  that  we  have 
given  on  the  one  hundred  houses.  More  detailed  sta- 


52  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

tistics  are  on  hand  for  a  smaller  number  of  houses 
in  the  district. 

Ridge  avenue  traverses  a  part  of  this  district,  run- 
ning northwest  from  Twelfth  and  Spring  Garden 
to  Broad  and  Fairmount  avenue.  The  houses  on 
this  street  are  mostly  comprised  of  stores,  restaurants 
and  business  places  of  various  kinds  on  the  first 
floor,  while  many  of  the  second  and  third  floors  are 
rented  out  to  "roomers."  We  give  some  of  the  re- 
suite  of  the  investigations  in  the  district  separately. 

Ridge  Avenue. 

Three  story  house.  The  first  floor  is  used  as  a 
meat  store.  There  is  a  side  entrance  to  the  second 
and  third  floors  by  means  of  a  narrow  hall  and  stair- 
way. The  second  floor  is  occupied  by  the  man  and 
wife  who  run  the  meat  store  and  their  three  children. 
They  are  native  Americans,  born  in  the  country. 
The  rental  of  the  whole  house,  including  the  store,  is 
$45.00  per  month.  The  third  floor  is  occupied  by 
three  "roomers."  It  is  furnished  by  the  butcher. 
The  roomers  are  a  trained  nurse,  a  book-keeper  and 
a  milliner.  They  are  all  native  Americans,  single 
and  never  heretofore  married.  The  nurse  is  about 
forty  years  old,  the  bookkeeper,  thirty- two,  and  the 
milliner  about  twenty-five  years  old.  There  isi  no 
parlor  in  the  place,  and  visitors,  male  and  female,  go 
directly  to  the  rooms  of  the  occupants,  where  they 
are  entertained.  The  income  from  the  three  rooms 
is: 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  HOUSE  53 


Trained    Nurse     $3.00  per  week,  $13.50  per  mo. 

Bookkeeper     2.50  per  week,     10.75  per  mo. 

Milliner     2.00  per  week,       8.50  per  mo. 

Total    .  .    $32.75 


Here  is  a  property  that  rents  for  $45.00  per  month 
and  the  monthly  income  the  tenant  receives  by  sub- 
letting the  third  floor  is  $32.75.  The  amount  of  fur- 
niture in  the  three  rooms  is  not  worth  over  $75.00, 
and  would  not  bring:  more  than  $25.00  at  a  second- 
hand sale. 

Ridge  Avenue. 

The  first  floor  is  a  hardware  store.  The  second 
and  third  floors  are  subletted  to  a  widow  at  $20.00  a 
month.  She  is  a  native  American,  about  fifty  years 
old,  without  any  other  means  of  support.  She  has 
no  male  relative  in  the  house.  She  sublets  the  rooms 
for  light  housekeeping  to  individuals  or  to  married 
couples  without  children.  The  furnishings  are  very 
scant.  Enough  dishes  only  are  supplied  to  set  the 
table  for  the  number  in  each  room.  The  income  in 
this  place  is: 

Per  month. 

Second  floor,  young  married  couple,  husband  a  plumber. $16. 00 
Second  floor,  young  man,  26,  single,  relative  of  plumber  10.00 
Third  floor,  married  couple,  husband  out  of  work,  wife 

working   in    laundry,    born   in   Philadelphia    12.00 

Third  floor,   single   girl,    30,    works  in  laundry 10.00 


Total    ..$48.00 

Expenses 

Per  month. 

Rent     ,.  .$20.00 

Coal     4.00 

Gas     2.00 

Refurnishing 2.00 

Total     $28.00 


54  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

This  leaves  a  balance  of  $20.00  per  month,  which 
supports  the  old  lady  very  comfortably.  There  are 
no  parlors  or  sitting  rooms  in  this  house,  and  only 
one  toilet.  The  different  families  cook  their  meals 
and  wasih  their  dishes  in  the  same  room. 

N.  Twelfth  Street. 

A  young  married  couple  rented  this  house  for 
$45.00  per  month.  They  have  sublet  the  second  floor 
throughout  to  another  young  married;  couple  for 
$25.00  per  month,  unfurnished.  They  rent  the  two 
third  floor  rooms  in  the  rear  to  three  young  men  at 
$25.00  per  month.  Their  income,  therefore,  is  $5.00 
a  month  more  than  the  rental  of  the  entire  house. 
They  must,  however,  supply  heat  and  gas  for  the 
whole  house,  which  costs  $120.00  per  annum.  In  this 
way  they  have  a  comfortable  home  for  themselves, 
with  heat  and  gas  at  a  cost  of  $60.00  a  year. 

Spring  Garden  Street. 

Fraternity  Furnished  Koom  House.     Conducted 

by  Miss  R .     She  is  a  native  American,  born  in 

the  rural  district  of  Pennsylvania,  29  years  of  age, 
and  never  married.  She  has  no  male  relatives  in  the 
house;  twenty-eight  fraternity  men,  all  of  whom 
are  dental  students,  room  with  her.  They  are  all 
native  Americans,  averaging  25  years  of  age.  They 
are  there  about  eight  months  in  a  year.  During  the 
summer  months  she  averages  a  dozen.  She  hae  fur- 
nished us  with  an  itemized  account  of  income  and 
expenses : 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  HOUSE  55 

Income. 

Room  rent,  28  men,  $2.00  per  week,  $56.00;  33  weeks. $1828. 00 
Room  rent,   12  men,   $2.00  per  week,   $24.00;   19  weeks     456.00 

Total    annual    income     $2284.00 

Expenses 

Rent,    per   month    $70.00 

Help,    per    month     25.00 

Laundry,    per    month    15.00 

Coal,    per   month    15.00 

Gas,    per   month    6.00 

Incidentals,   per  month    5.00 

Total,    per    month    $136.00 

Or,    $1.632   per  year 

'For  refurnishing  she  adds  $200.00  per  year. 

Total    annual    expenses    $1832.00 

Annual   income    2284.00 

Annual    expenses     1832.00 

Balance $450.00 

The  proprietress  of  this  house  doea  not  do  any 
of  the  work  herself.  She  pays  a  woman*  $25.00  a 
month  to  keep  the  house  in  good  condition.  This 
woman  employs  other  help  occasionally  to  assist  in 
the  cleaning.  A  man  is  employed  to  look  after  the 
heaters  during  the  winter.  There  are  days  that  the 
woman  who  contracts  to  do  the  cleaning  is  through 
with  her  work  by  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The 
work  on  such  days  consists  only  of  making  the  beds 
and  tidying  up  the  rooms.  Neither  the  proprietress, 
nor  the  woman  who  does  the  cleaning  eat  or  sleep  in 
the  house.  The  proprietress  rune  another  "rooming 
house''  in  the  neighborhood  in  which  she  lives.  Four 
hundred  and  fifty-two  dollars  seems  a  small  amount 
for  a  year's  effort,  when  one  considers  the  magnitude 
of  the  undertaking,  and  the  possibilities  of  "roomers" 
leaving  in  the  midst  of  the  season.  However,  if  she 
conducted  five  or  six  houses  on  the  same  plane  with 


56  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

an  equal  measure  of  success,  the  business  would 
prove  profitable.  This  is  her  desire.  She  claims,  one 
can  manage  six  "rooming  houses"  with  the  same 
expenditure  of  energy  as  it  requires  to  run  one  house. 

N.  Twelfth  Street. 

Miss,  R.  Same  woman  who  runs  the  Fraternity 
"rooming  house."  Uses  every  room  in  the  house  as 
a  bed-room.  Rents  only  to  men  or  married  couples 
without  children.  Had  only  one  change  from  the 
21st  of  October  until  the  27th  of  June.  Had  seven- 
teen all  winter.  Her  roomers  were: 

Four  m&chinists,  native  born,  single,  23,  34,  32,  36 
years.  Three  clerks,  native  born,  single,  24  to  27 
years  of  age.  Two  bookkeepers,  native  born,  single, 
19  and  23  years  old.  Three  collectors  or  agents,  na- 
tive born,  single,  23,  30  and  47  years  of  age.  One 
medical  student,  single,  24  years  old,  born  in  New 
Jersey,  country  district.  Four  married  people,  two 
couples,  native  born.  Both  husbands  and  wives 
worked  regularly. 

She  never  kept  an  itemized  account  of  income  and 
expenses  of  this  house.  It  was  her  first  venture,  and 
she  knew  it  paid  from  the  beginning.  The  rent  was 
only  $38.00  per  month.  The  coal  bills  were  lower 
than  in  the  Spring  Garden  house,  and  she  judged 
she  cleared  $700.00  a  year  on  this  house.  She  leased 
two  more  houses  in  October,  1910,  on  North  Elev- 
enth street,  and  in  December  she  reported  them  well 
filled  and  expected  to  clear  $1,000  the  first  season  on 
her  new  ventures. 

There  are  a  number  of  married  women  who  keep 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  HOUSE  57 

a  few  lodgers  to  help  out  with  the  family  expenses 
or  to  reduce  the  rent.  It  is  possible  for  a  couple  thus 
to  reduce  their  own  rent  expense  below  that  of  a 
small  and  uncomfortable  two-story  house  on  a  side 
street.  It  is  better  for  a  young  married  couple  to  do 
this  than  to  take  apartments  or  "rooms"  in  some 
furnished  room  house.  It  gives  the  young  wife 
something  to  do,  which  is  a  very  important  consider- 
ation in  the  first  years  of  the  married  life  of  a  young 
couple.  It  also  furnishes  a  possibility  of  increasing 
their  available  income,  to  earn  their  own  house  rent 
in  this  way.  In  1900  a  young  couple  were  married 
and  rented!  a  house  on  Thirteenth  street  and  took 
"roomers."  The  rent  was  $40.00  per  monrth.  They 
would  have  been  obliged  to  pay  this  for  a  comfort- 
able home  in  the  suburbs.  They  found  that  they 
could  pay  their  rent  by  taking  "roomers"  and  decid- 
ed! to  inconvenience  themselves  for  a  time  by  living 
in  this  manner,  and  put  the  $40.00  a  month  in  a 
building  and  loan  association.  In  March,  1911,  his 
building  and  loan  association  shares'  run  out,  and 
he  will  receive  $8,000.  They  have  invested  this 
whole  amount  in  a  very  desirable  property  in  the 
suburbs,  and  with  the  balance  they  have  saved  in 
the  past  ten  years  they  will  be  able  to  completely 
re-furnish  their  new  home.  This,  at  least,  has  been 
a  successful  venture. 

There  are  many  failures  in  the  business.  Inex- 
perienced women  come  from  the  country  to  the  city 
in  high  hopes  of  making  a  comfortable  and  honest 
living  im  something  that  looks  like  an  easy  thing. 


58  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

Unacquainted  with  city  life,  open  and  unsuspecting 
in  disposition  and  completely  unfitted  for  a  complex 
environment,  these  people  are  the  prey  of  all  sorts 
of  sharpers;  if  they  survive  and  finally  establish 
their  house  on  a  paying  basis.,  it  may  be  at  the  cost 
of  their  health  and  moral  sensibilities.  The  average 
man  or  woman  thus  coming  to  the  city  and  plunging 
headlong  into  such  a  struggle  is  not  likely  to  let 
hair-splitting,  conscientious  scruples  stand  in  the 
way  of  making  both  ends  meet.  It  is  a  common  say- 
ing that  people  from  the  country  are  not  as  careful' 
about  the  morals  of  their  lodgers  as  those  brought 
up  under  a  city  environment.  When  rents  and  other 
expenses  must  be  met,  conduct,  which,  under  other 
circumstances  might  not  be  tolerated,  must  be  over- 
looked. A  woman  who  conducts  eight  "rooming 
houses"  on  Mount  Vernon  and  Green  streets,  said: 
"I  insist  on  a  'straight  house.' "  Her  idea  of  a 
"straight  house"  was  one  that  was  outwardly  quiet, 
and  one  where  rooms  were  not  rented  by  the  hour 
or  night  to  couples  that  had  picked'  up  a  chance  ac- 
quaintance on  the  street.  She  had  often  rented 
"rooms"  to  couples  who  lived  together  as  man  and 
wife  for  weeks  or  months,  and  afterwards  separated. 
"Of  course,"  she  remarked,  "I  can't  ask  them  to  show 
their  marriage  certificates  when  they  come  to  me  to 
rent  a  room,  and  there  is  no  way  of  telling  whether 
a  couple  is  man  and  wife  by  looking  at  them."  Of 
course,  it  is  possible  for  men  and  women  to  live  to- 
gether in  this  district  without  being  married.  No 
one  is  over  particular  here,  and  the  landladies  can- 


THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  HOUSE  59 

not  afford  to  be  too  inquisitive.  With  the  landlady 
it  isi  an  economic  problem,  a  continual  source  of 
anxiety  of  how  to  make  both  ends  meet, 

The  life  of  the  landlady  is  not  a  pleasant  one.  It 
is  full  of  monotony  and  troubles.  She  very  often  lives 
in  a  email  room  or  in  cramped  quarters  in  the  base- 
ment. She  gets  her  meals  on  a  small  gas  stove  in 
the  same  room  in  which  she  sleeps.  Her  "roomers" 
annoy  her.  Sometimes  they  cheat  her.  A  dozen 
agents  a  day  bother  her  trying  to  dispose  of  their 
wares  or  interest  her  in  some  scheme  of  insurance. 
No  time  is  left  to  attend  a  place  of  amusement  or 
engage  in  any  recreation.  At  night  she  must  be  at 
home  to  watch  her  roomers.  During  the  day  she  is 
busy  getting  things  about  the  house  straightened 
out.  If  she  has  women  in  the  house  they  are  a  con- 
stant source  of  annoyance.  They  are  continually 
using  the  bath-room  or  doing  light  cooking  or  laun- 
dry work  in  their  rooms,  which  is  against  the  rules 
of  the  house.  She  must  overlook  many  things,  and 
go  about  with  an  unruffled  temper. 


FURNISHED  ROOMS  FOR  HOUSEKEEP- 
ING. 


Between  the  furnished  room  district  we  have  had 
under  consideration,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  district 
devoted  to  business  and  manufacture  on  the  other, 
lies  a  district  filled  with  amusement  places,  cheap 
lodging  houses  and  homes  in  which  rooms  may  be 
rented  for  housekeeping.  This  district  extendsi  from 
Eighth  street  to  Broad,  and  from  Arch  street  to 
Spring  Garden. 

We  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  cheap  lodging 
houses  furnishing  a  bed  at  from  five  to  thirty  cents 
a  night  and  patronized  mostly  by  unmarried  foreign- 
ers and  vagrants.  The  moral  influences  in  any  of 
these  houses  is  vicious.  An  observer  declares  that 
there  is  no  doubt  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  more 
serious  crimes  of  the  city  is  to  be  traced  directly  to 
the  shiftless  loafers  in  the  cheap  lodging  houses. 
Such  houses  attract  the  incompetent  to  the  city  and 
tend  to  foster  and  increase  crime.  Superintendent 
Byrnes,  of  New  York  City,  says:  "In  nine  cases  out 
of  ten  the  stranger  who  drifts  into  a  lodging  house 
turns  out  a  thief  or  a  burglar,  if  indee(ji  he  does  not 
sooner  or  later  become  a  murderer.  Thousands  of 
instances  of  this  kind  occur  every  year."  These  deni- 
zens of  the  cheap  lodging-houses  do  not  exert  a  con- 
siderable influence  on  the  life  of  the  neighborhood. 

The  furnished  room  for  housekeeping  does  play  a 
part  in  the  life  of  the  community.  The  districts  in 
which  these  houses  are  found,  have  been  invaded  by 


ROOMS    FOR    HOUSEKEEPING  61 

business  and  industries,  but  there;  are  still  a  few  of 
the-  oldi  residences  here  in  which  large  numbers  of 
people  live.  The  probabilities  are  that  these  houses 
will  become  more  valuable  in  time,  as  sites  for  busi- 
ness purposes;  meantime,  the  most  profitable  use  to 
which  they  can  be  put  at  present  is  for  housekeeping. 
No  private  family  of  means  would  care  to  live  in  a 
neighborhood  surrounded  by  factories  and  cheap 
amusement  places,  nor  would  a  high-grade  roomer 
do  so.  The  highest  returns  from  the  property  for 
the  owner  can  be  had  by  renting  rooms  for  house- 
keeping, which  makes  possible  the  most  transient 
and  irresponsible  kind  of  family  life.  From  three  to 
ten  families  live  in  one  house  in  this  district.  They 
are  usually  poor  and  shiftless.  Here  we  find  the 
great  field  of  operation  for  the  charitable  societies  of 
the  city.  In  this  district  the  Society  for  the  Preven- 
tion of  Cruelty  to  Children  is  called  upon  most  fre- 
quently to  exercise  its  functions.  From  these  homes 
the  children  are  taken  by  the  aid  societies  and  placed 
into  institutions.  The  neighborhood  has  many  houses 
used  for  immoral  purposes,  and  perhaps  adjoining 
them  are  houses  in  which  the  rooms  furnished  with 
the  barest  housekeeping  necessities  are  rented  to  poor 
families.  Kespect  ability  and  vice  often  live  side  by 
side.  The  plumbing  in  these  houses  is  usually  de- 
fective, bath-rooms  are  not  found  in  most  of  them, 
and  water-closets  are  few  in  number.  One  closet 
must  often  suffice  for  three  or  four  families.  In  one 
house  there  was  one  closet  for  five  families.  There 
is  frequently  one  sink  only  for  several  families,  and 


62  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

consequently  it  is  not  strange  that  it  is  generally  out 
of  commission.  Coal  oil,  gas  and  gasoline  stoves 
are  generally  used,  hence  the  danger  from  fire  is  a 
serious  one.  The  halls  are  dark  and  never  ventil- 
ated. The  furniture  is  dilapidated  and  poor.  There 
is  no  sens©  of  ownership  on  the  part  of  the  occupants 
and  consequently  no  incentive  even  to  take  ordinary 
care  of  the  furniture.  In  over  forty  houses  to  which 
\ve  gained  admittance  we  found  that  less  than  one- 
half  the  rooms  were  carpeted.  In  some  of  the  rooms 
there  were  coal  ranges  which  insure  cooked  food  oc- 
casionally. The  coal  is  bought  by  the  basket  or  ket- 
tle. In  many  of  the  families  that  have  come  under 
our  personal  notice  and  that  have  applied  for  help, 
there  was  a  history  of  illness  or  drinking  on  the  part 
of  the  man  that  caused  the  family  to  lose  possession 
of  their  goods  and  compelled  them  to  find  shelter  in 
"rooms."  In  twelve  cases  that  have  applied  for  help 
to  the  "poor  fund"  of  St.  Mark's  Lutheran  Church, 
seven  could  be  traced  to  illness  and  loss  of  work  on 
the  part  of  the  principal  wage^earner  of  the  family, 
three  to  drink  on  the  part  of  the  husband,  one  to 
drink  on  the  part  of  the  wife,  and  another  to  shift- 
lessness  on  the  part  of  both  parents.  Lack  of  man- 
agement and  foresight  caused  this  last  family  to  end 
up  in  two  rooms.  It  was  the  path  of  least  resistance. 
In  addition  to  these  typical  cases  of  families  who 
through  illness,  irregular  employment,  drink  or  other 
Lad  habits,  have  lost  their  homes  and  fallen  into  this 
hand-to-mouth  existence,  there  are  a  great  number 
of  miscellaneous  cases.  In  April,  1909,  our  attention 


ROOMS    FOR    HOUSEKEEPING  63 

was  called  to  a  case  of  distress  in  one  of  these  houses 
on  Spring  Garden  street  near  Tenth.  We  found  ten 
families  living  in  one  large  three-story  house.  The 
husband  of  this  particular  family  under  considera- 
tion was  a,  Cuban.  While  attending  college  in  Phil- 
adelphia he  married^  the  daughter  of  a  physician. 
The  wedding  was  the  result  of  a  run-away  match  on 
the  part  of  the  young  couple,  the  ceremony  having 
been  performed  in  Wilmington,  Delaware.  The 
groom  was  the  son  of  a  wealthy  Cuban  planter  and 
the  bride  the  daughter  of  a  practising  physician  of 
our  city.  Fearing  to  take  his  bride  to  Cuba  on  ac- 
count of  parental  opposition,  and  the  bride  being  too 
proud  to  take  her  husband  to  her  parental  home,  the 
young  couple  went  to  housekeeping  in  a  few  rooms 
on  Spring  Garden  street.  In  the  course  of  a  year  a 
child  was  born  to  the  couple  and  all  had  gone  well 
until  1908,  when  the  husband  lost  his  position.  Un- 
able to  secure  work  for  some  mfonths,  the  family 
treasury  was  depleted  and  the  young  couple  were  in 
pitiable  straits.  Another  child  came.  The  oldest 
child  was  taken  to  its  maternal  grandparents*,  who 
cared  for  it,  and  the  young  couple  took  one  room. 
The  husband  was  out  of  work  for  over  a  year.  Each 
morning  he  spent  from  five  to  six  hours  walking 
about  the  city  looking  for  work.  Every  want  "ad" 
in  the  daily  papers  was  closely  scanned,  and  when  he 
applied  he  was  always  told  the  position  was  already 
filled.  Discouraged  and  disheartened  he  returned 
from  his  daily  search  about  noon.  Then  he  acted  as 
child-nurse  while  his  wife  went  out  with  a  basket  to 


64  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

a  section  of  the  city  where  she  was  unknown  and 
sold  shoe-strings,  buttons,  needles,  etc.  By  this  means 
they  existed.  On  another  floor  of  the  same  house 
lived  a  man  who  was  cashier  of  a  national  bank  and 
had  luxuriant  apartments.  A  young  lady  occupied 
a  room1  in  that  house  and  did  her  cooking  in  the 
room.  She  had  no  regular  occupation  and  her  source 
of  income  was  always  a  matter  of  suspicion  on  the 
part  of  the  other  occupants  of  the  house. 

In  one  house  on  North  Eleventh  street  thirty-two 
people  were  found  in  one  house.  Seven  families  in 
an  ordinary  three-story  house.  A  man  and  wife,  five 
children  and  a  boarder  lived  in.  a  single  third  story 
room.  The  man  was  26  years  old  and  had  been  mar- 
ried twelve  years.  He  was  born  in  Easton/  Pennsyl- 
vania. His  wife  was  35  years  old  and  had  been 
married  twice.  Her  first  husband  had  died.  She 
was  born  in  Nazareth,  Pennsylvania.  The  ages  of 
the  children  ranged  from  5  to  11  years.  The  boarder 
had  been  an  acquaintance  of  the  family  for  some 
time.  He  was  22  years  of  age  and  was  born  in  Phil- 
lipsburg,  New  Jersey,  directly  across  the  river  from 
East  on,  thf  birthplace  of  the  husband.  The  head  of 
the  family  was  a  window  cleaner  in  department 
stores  and  the  boarder  was  a  crane  operator.  The 
children  were  well  dressed,  and  the  mother  wore  a 
plume  on  her  hat  that  must  have  cost  at  least  $25.00. 
These  eight  people  lived  in  a  single  room,  and  appar- 
ently were  happy  and  contented.  It  is  impossible  to 
have  decent  living  conditions  under  such  circum- 
stances. In  this  house  there  was  no  bath-room  and 


ROOMS    FOR    HOUSEKEEPING  65 

inly  one  water  closet  in  the  yard.  With  reference 
to  the  treatment  of  such  property  by  the  city,  nothing 
can  be  added  to  the  conservative  statement  of  Booth 
in  the  final  volume  of  "Life  and  Labor  of  the  People 
of  London,"  p.  158 :  "For  such  homes  a  well-thought- 
out  scheme  of  adaptation  is  essential,  the  sanitary 
and  other  difficulties  being  great.  Moreover,  the 
scheme  ought  to  be  of  general  application,  as  suited 
to  the  needs  of  the  neighborhood  ....  and  it  is 
only  a  successful  alteration,  so  that  the  houses,  may 
be  made  into  convenient  and  healthy  homes  for 
whatever  class  of  occupancy  may  be  in  view  that 
the  evils  of  non-adaptation  and  mal-adaptation  may 
be  obviated."  The  owners  of  the  property  in  many 
cases  refuse  to  spend  any  money  on  repairs  of  any 
kind.  The  old  families  have  been  driven  out  by  busi- 
ness and  industry.  At  first  these  houses  were  used 
as  "furnished  room  houses."  As  the  neighborhood 
became  more  undesirable  it  was  impossible  to  hold 
the  roomers,  and  the  only  recourse  was  to  rent  out 
rooms  to  the  shiftless  and  poor  for  housekeeping 
purposes.  In  a  few  years  these  houses  will  be  torn 
down  and  stores  or  factories  erected  ini  their  stead. 
It  is  the  policy  of  the  owner  to  get  the  greatest  pos- 
sible returns  for  his  property,  and  this  is  possible 
by  renting  out  portions  of  the  house  or  single  rooms 
for  housekeeping.  These  houses  are  not  adapted  to 
the  purposes  to  which  they  are  put.  As  long  as  they 
are  in  existence  they  should  be  carefully  inspected 
by  the  city  authorities  to  see  that  fire  escapes  are 
built  and  that  simple  sanitary  rules  are  enforced. 


66  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

Frequent  disinfections  should  bo  required  irrespec- 
tive of  the  fact  whether  there  had  been  any  outbreak 
of  a  contagious  disease.  Three  outbreaks  of  small- 
pox occurred  in  houses  of  this  character  during  1910- 
1911  after  the  city  had  not  had  a  single  case  for 
nearly  two  years.  On  each  occasion  the  Department 
of  Public  Health  dealt  vigorously  in  the  matter  and 
prevented  the  spread  of  the  contagion.  A  great  part 
of  this  district  is  still  considered  as  a  residential 
section,  Families  with  little  children  live  here.  We 
shall  discuss  the  problem  of  the  child  in  the  district 
under  "Public  Schools."  It  is  true  these  children 
and  their  parents  are  poor,  but  that  is  no  reason  why 
the  vicious  element  should  not  be  suppressed  in  the 
district.  A  reasonable  standard  of  decency  should 
be  demanded  here  as  elsewhere.  Cleanliness  and 
sanitation  should  be  enforced  by  the  city  and  the 
disorderly  elements  expelled  or  suppressed  by  the  po- 
lice. Charitable  agencies  should  make  more  of  an 
effort  to  establish  an  independent  home  life  among 
the  people  in  these  rooming  houses  and,  if  necessary, 
render  financial  assistance  to  a  family  willing  to 
begin  life  anew  under  a  new  environment.  No  help 
should  be  rendered  a  family  that  is>  unwilling  to 
break  up  the  old  conditions  found  in  cheap  rooming 
houses,  if  a  way  out  is  shown  them.  Efforts  are 
being  made  in  this  direction  by  a  number  of  settle- 
ment workers  in  the  city  and  in  many  instances  they 
have  been  very  successful.  No  real  family  life  can 
be  fostered  under  the  unfavorable  environment  of 
the  "furnished-room  for  housekeeping." 


THE   ECONOMIC   CONDITION   OF   THE 
ROOMER. 

A  man's  economic  condition  is  measured  by  his 
income  and  the  expenses1  he  must  regularly  meet.  If 
we  know  a  man's  occupation  we  can  estimate  his 
income  and  we  can  also  get  at  a  fair  estimate  of  his 
fixed  weekly  charges.  We  have  two  tables  showing 
the  occupation  of  1,000  male  roomers  and  200  female 
roomers  in  the  district  we  have  described. 

Table   of   Occupation  of    1,000   Male   Boomers. 

Clerks      229 

Salesmen 117 

Collectors     98 

Students     64 

Foundrymen    and    Iron   Workers    63 

Walters      48 

Actors     39 

Teachers     34 

Railroad    Men     27 

Chauffeurs     26 

Electricians     23 

Artists    and    Sketch  ens    21 

Confectioners     17 

Printers     and     Lithographers     15 

Wire    Men    15 

Trouble    Men    on    Telephone    11 

Butchers     11 

Meat     Cutters     10 

Tailors      10 

Doctors     10 

Lawyers     10 

Restaurant    Proprietors     9 

Plumbers     9 

Piano     Teachers     9 

Moving    Picture    Proprietors    9 

Paper    Carriers     8 

Translators    and    Interpreters     8 

Engineers     7 

Bartenders      7 

Violin    and    Mandolin     7 

Dentists     

Bakers     

Window    Cleaners    

Masseurs     

Crane  Operators 

Barbers     i 

Foremen    (not   specified)     5 

Cashier  in  bank  and  stores   5 


68  THE  ROOMER 

Nurse     2 

Assistant  at  Lunch  Counter   1 

Night   Watchman    1 

Photographer    1 

Detective    1 

Book-binder     1 

Promoter     ,. 1 

Total    1,000 

Distribution  of   200   Female   Roomers   by   Occupation. 

Clerks  in  Stores 71 

Stenographers    19 

Cashiers     16 

Waitresses     13 

Teachers     11 

Nurses    9 

Milliners    9 

Dressmakers     9 

Sewing-girls    9 

Book-keepers     9 

Art  Students    8 

Domestic    Science    Students     7 

Manicurists     5 

Telephone    Operators    4 

Missionaries    2 

Demonstrators     2 

Cloak    Models    2 

Hair  Dresser    1 

Doctor    1 

Detective     1 

Total     200 

In  this  table  we  have  taken  no  account  of  any 
who  were  out  of  employment.  When  this*  table  was 
computed  the  number  out  of  employment  was  less 
than  four  per  cent.  Nor  has  any  account  been  taken 
of  women  who  do  not  work.  Most  of  those  living 
in  "rooming  houses"  are  regularly  employed.  There 
are  a  few  single  women  in  the  district  without  em- 
ployment but  they  are  chiefly  old  ladies,  living  on 
modest  incomes,  or  supported  by  some  relative. 
Some  make  a  living  by  doing  plain  sewing  for  the 
"roomers." 

In  the  table  of  male  "roomers"  we  find  that  the 
1,000  were  distributed  among  forty-five  different 
occupations1.  The  list  of  occupations  could  be 


ECONOMIC   CONDITION  69 

greatly  increased  by  specifying  more  definitely  the 
sort  of  work.  Those  employed  in  Baldwin's1  Locomo- 
tive Works  generally  reported  their  occupation  as 
"foundrymen"  or  "iron-workers,"  From  later  infor- 
mation we  learned  that  three  of  the  men  so  reported 
were  brass- workers.  Among  the  railroad  men.  may 
be  found  conductors,  brakemen,  baggage-masters, 
firemen,  etc. 

The  striking  feature  is  the  large  number  of  clerks 
and  salesmen.  Together  with  the  skilled  workmen, 
they  make  up  the  mass  of  those  engaged  in  business, 
manufacturing  and  mechanical  pursuits  and  lend 
the  rooming  house  population  its  ^characteristic  tone. 
It  is  evident  that  a  proportionally  larger  number  of 
clerkei  than  of  skilled  workmen  live  in  lodgings. 
Clerks  usually  start  out  with  small  salaries  and  are 
slower  in  gaining  a  footing  than  men  in  other 
employments.  This  larger  relative  number  of  clerks 
and  salesmen  is  to  be  expected.  The  average  shop- 
girl lives  at  home  with  her  relatives,  in  the  city  or 
in  the  suburbs;  but  the  ordinary  clerk  or  salesman, 
earning  less  than  the  skilled  mechanic,  yet  feeling 
himself  on  a  higher  plane  than  the  latter,  ia  for  a 
long  time  unwilling  to  marry  and  assume  the  respon- 
sibility of  home  and  family,  and  consequently  re- 
mains indefinitely  in  a  "furnished  room  house."  It 
is  also  true  that  skilled  workmen  marry  earlier  than 
mercantile  employees.  Occupation  is  one  of  the 
strongest  bases  of  sociability.  There  is  a  well 
defined  "consciousness  of  kind"  between  the  individ- 
uals living  in  "rooming"  houses.  The  grouping  of 


70  THE  ROOMER 

people  is  according  to  the  occupation  in  the  different 
houses.  One  "rooming  house"  will  be  found  filled  with 
students,  another  with  workers  from  Baldwin's  Loco- 
motive Works  or  some  other  industrial  plant  in  the 
neighborhood;  and  still  another  with  clerks  of  a 
department  store. 

In  the  table  for  the  female  roomers  we  find  a  large 
number  of  clerks  in  stores.  These  are  employed 
usually  in  small  stores  and  offices.  The  low  wages 
paid  by  the  department  stores  do  not  permit  of  girl 
employees  to  live  in  lodgings.  Some  department 
stores  make  a  specialty  of  employing  only  girls  who 
live  at  home,  whom  they  can  secure  at  low  wages. 
The  comparative  large  number  of  waitresses  is  due 
to  the  demand  from  the  local  restaurants  and  eating 
houses. 

Not  all  roomers  are  wage  earners.  There  are 
many  wives  supported  by  husbands  and  some  hus^ 
bands  are  supported  by  their  wives*.  There  are  a 
number  of  students  in  the  district  who  are  supported' 
by  others,  and  there  are  a  few  people  living  here 
who  are  living  on  past  savings  or  are  receiving  sup- 
port from'  relatives  or  charity.  But  the  great 
majority  of  roomers  are  paid  workers. 

Income  of  Roomers. 

We  have  succeeded  in  getting  the  average  weekly 
income  and  expense  of  the  following: 

Expense 

Occupation  Average  weekly  income.  (room  rent 

and  board) 

45   Clerks     $9.64 $5.97 

24  Salesmen     10.73 6.48 

21  Collectors    12.11 6.53 

12  Students    6.47 

15  Foundry-men    20.10 5.65 


ECONOMIC   CONDITION  71 


Occupation 
10  Waiters      .      .    . 

Average  weekly   Income. 
9.00  

Expense 
(room  rent 
and  board) 
3.10 

18  75 

6  95 

19.20  

6  50 

2  Tailors 

13  00 

6  05 

12  00    .  

6.00 

16  00 

6  25 

Average     . 

$140.53 
.    $14.05 

$59.48 
$5.95 

We  excluded  the  students  in  making  up  the  aver- 
age. If  this  average  were  properly  weighted,  the 
average  weekly  income  would  be  slightly  less,  owing 
to  the  large  number  of  clerks  whose  average  weekly 
wage  is  less  than  the  total  average.  Board  and  room 
rent  take  from  one-third  to  more  than  one-half  of 
the  weekly  income.  When  a  man's  salary  rises  to 
$25.00  a  week  he  is  likely  to  get  married  and  sooner 
or  later  take  a  room  in  the  suburbs'.  The  medium 
grade  mercantile  employees  and  skilled  mechanics 
are  those  who  stay  in  this  district.  For  five  years 
we  have  noticed  a  gradual  departure  to  other  sec- 
tions of  those  whose  economic  condition  improved. 

From  the  above  table  we  see  that  the  economic 
outlook  of  the  majority  of  roomers  is  not  very 
encouraging.  Forty-five  clerks  had  an  average  of 
$3.67  a  week  left  after  paying  their  board  and  lodg- 
ing. With  this  balance  certain  other  fixed  and  regu- 
lar expenses  musit  be  met,  such  as  car  fare,  laundry, 
clothing,  etc.  Laundry  expenses  vary,  The  most 
economical  man  requires  fifty  cents  a  week  for  this 
purpose.  On  fair  days  the  majority  walk  to  their 
place  of  employment.  Clerks  are  supposed  to  be 
well  dressed  and  present  a  neat  appearance.  They 
are  compelled  to  maintain  a  higher  standard  in  the 


72  THE  ROOMER 

matter  of  dress  than  the  mechanic  and  have  con- 
siderably less  to  do  it  with,  The  employer  expects 
hisi  clerks  to  look  neat  and  clean  constantly.  The 
average  clerk  has  very  little  money  to  spend  on 
amusements  and  pleasure  so  necessary  in  our  day 
and  under  existing  conditions.  Lack  of  money 
accounts  largely  for  his  attitude  toward  the  Church; 
it  requires:  money  to  engage  in  church  and  Sunday- 
school  work.  In  this,  age  of  laymen's  "forward 
movements"  and  other  great  missionary  enterprises, 
the  whole  stress  is  laid  on  raising  large  sums  of 
money  and  making  a  big  showing.  At  one  time  the 
Church  was  interested  in  the  salvation  of  souls1  and 
in  improving  the  economic  and  spiritual  conditions1 
of  the  "stranger  within  the  gates ;"  today,  the  efforts 
are  expended  for  the  inhabitant  of  India,  China, 
Africa  and  the  islands  of  the  seas :  very  little  is.  done 
for  the  apathetic  and  indifferent  within  her  gates. 
"The  world  for  Christ  in  this  generation"  is,  a  high 
sounding  battle-cry  intended  to  inspire  the  faintest 
warrior  in  the  Church  militant,  but  it  &eems>  to  us 
that  the  negro  on  the  back  street  who  is  struggling 
hard  to  keep  his  little  brood  together,  and  the 
Japanese  cook  in  the  kitchen  are  as  worthy  of  our 
efforts  as  the  savage  Zulu  dwelling  contentedly  in 
his  native  Africa.  To  carry  on  this  missionary 
propaganda  requires  money.  The  average  young 
man  who,  perhaps,  has  less  than  a  dollar  a  week 
after  paying  his1  fixed  expenses,  attends  church  and1 
Sunday-school  and  is  at  once  asked  for  some  special 
self-denial  offering.  That  young  man's  whole  life 


ECONOMIC   CONDITION  73 

is  a  self-denial.  It  cannot  be  anything  else  unless 
he  steals'.  We  know  of  instances  of  young  men  giv- 
ing up  attendance  at  Sunday-school  and  church 
because  they  could  not  meet  all  the  financial  de- 
mands made  upon  them.  It  is  time  for  the  Church  to 
see  her  duty  in  respect  to  young  men  and  women 
living  in  "rooms"  and  to  fulfill  her  mission  to  the 
"stranger  within  her  gates." 

The  young  man  of  the  "rooming  house"  is  the 
typical  young  American  of  the  city — the  man  behind 
the  counter,  the  clerk  in  the  counting-room,  the 
skilled  mechanic,  the  trained  artisan,  unmarried 
and  unhampered  by  family,  free  to  come  and  go,  who 
gravitate  where  conditions  are  pleasant  and  wages' 
satisfactory.  He  is  representative  of  the  ambition, 
th«  pushing  energy,  the  perennial  hopefulness  which 
characterizes  the  younger  productive  ranks  of  mer- 
cantile employees.  He  is  in  the  prime  of  life,  in 
the  vigorous  years  of  productive  power  and  univers- 
ally driven  on  by  the  conviction  of  success.  The 
belief  that  there  is  "room  at  the  top"  spurs  these 
young  men  and  women  on.  It  is  not  only  the  desire 
to  escape  the  irksome  and  manual  labor  of  the  farm, 
but  the  hope  of  advancement  and  preferment  that 
draws  an  ever-increasing  number  of  boys  and  girls, 
from  the  country  to  the  city.  For  the  time  being, 
their  economic  condition  may  not  be  improved,  but 
hope  dwells'  in  their  breasts  and  they  confidently 
look  forward  to  better  things. 

Not  a  large  number  of  sales  girls  live  in  rooms. 
Their  salaries  are  uniformly  lower  than  those  of 


74  THE  ROOMER 

men,  yet  they  are  compelled  to  maintain  the 
standards1  of  living  and  in  the  matter  of-  dress, 
higher  standards  than  the  men.  We  found  that  the 
average  weekly  wage  of  ten  sales-women  living  in 
one  house  was  $8.75  a  week.  These  girls  worked  at 
fashionable  stores  where  the  wages  are  higher  than 
those  paid  for  the  same  work  in  an  ordinary  depart- 
ment store.  Their  "rooms"  and  meals  cost  them  an 
average  of  $5.05  a  week.  This  left  $3.70  a  week  for 
laundry,  car-fare,  clothing  and  other  incidentals. 
Stenographers  and  bookkeepers  receive  a  higher  aver- 
age wage.  One  girl  stenographer  living  in  the  room- 
ing district  receives  a  wage  of  $35.00  a  week.  She 
pays  $8.00  a  week  for  room  and  board.  The  majority 
of  stenographers  start  in  at  about  $7.00  a  week, 
after  graduation  from  a  business1  college. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  so  many  women  who  are 
compelled  to  earn  a  living  are  without  good  homes. 
It  is  bad  that  men  should  be  without  such  comforts, 
but  the  man  has  opportunities  for  relaxation  which 
are  denied  to  women.  To  fight  against  the  growing 
tendency  of  women  to  become  independent  wage- 
earners  is  useless^  It  remains  for  society  to  adapt 
itself  to  existing  conditions  and  at  least  to  throw 
as  many  safe-guards  around  women  as  possible.' 
There  ought  to  be  numerous  hotels,  boarding  houses 
and  "homes"  for  single  women  in  the  city  to  the 
end  that  who  must  work  may  be  surrounded  by  the 
moral  comforts  of  home  life  and  may  have  some 
relief  from  the  dreary  round  of  earning  a  living. 
Here  is  a  chance  for  philanthropy  to  do  some  of  its> 
best  constructive  work. 


ECONOMIC   CONDITION  75 

The  furnished  room  houses  are  filled  with  human 
derelicts  who  are  down  and  out.  Philanthropic 
workers  bear  testimony  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a 
large  amount  of  real  poverty  in  the  district.  Later 
we  shall  show  that  the  rooming  house  is  a  breeding 
place  for  more  serious  forms  of  social  degeneration. 

Many  varieties  of  misery  come  to  light  in  this 
district.  Here  is  a  typical  case. 

In  February,  1910,  an  attractive  young  woman 
was  arrested  by  the  police  of  the  Buttonwood  station 
for  soliciting  on  the  streets.  She  gave  her  age  as 
19  years;  and  said  she  was  married.  She  and  her 
husband  lived  in  a  house  on  Tenth  street  above 
Spring  Garden.  The  husband  was  out  of  work;  the 
room  rent  was  due  and  they  had  nothing  to  eat. 
After  consulting  together  they  decided  that  the  only 
thing  to  do  was  for  the  young  wife  to  go  on  the 
street  and  solicit  men  for  immoral  purposes,  thus1 
prostituting  herself  in  order  to  maintain  the  family. 
Such  cases  often  occur  in  this  district. 

The  economic  condition  of  the  average  rooming 
house  occupant  is  not  a  roseate  one.  He  is  not  far 
removed  from  want.  Actual  poverty  often  stares 
him  in  the  face.  His  fixed  expenses  are  so  high  that 
he  is  unable  to  heap  up  a  surplus  for  a  "rainy  day." 
The  roomer  generally  carries  some  insurance  in  one 
of  those  companies  that  make  weekly  collections 
such  as  the  Metropolitan  or  the  Prudential.  The 
whole  subject  of  poverty  in  the  rooming  house  dis- 
trict of  Philadelphia  deserves1  more  detailed  study 
than  we  can  give  it. 


THE  ROOMER. 


HIS  SOCIAL  CONDITION. 

In  order  to  study  the  social  condition  of  the 
"roomer"  it  is  necessary  to  know  something  of  his 
environment  and  note  how  he  reacts  upon  that 
environment.  What  institutions  are  found  in  the 
district?  What  part  do  they  play  in  the  life  of  the 
roomer?  What  amusements  are  found  here?  etc. 

The  first  institution  we  shall  discuss  is  the 
Church.  What  influence  does  the  Church  exert  upon 
the  life  of  the  roomer?  Is  her  work  effective? 
What  is  the  Church  doing  to  meet  the  changed  and 
constantly  changing  conditions1?  What  churches 
are  still  working  in  the  neighborhood?  Is  the 
Church  retreating?  Why? 

Churches  hi  the  District  at  Present. 
Church.  Location. 

Green   Street  M.   E Green   Street  above  Tenth 

Thirteenth  Street  M.  E Thirteenth  and  Vine 

St.    George's   M.    E Fourth   below  Vine 

Temple   M.    E Fifth   and  Spring   Garden 

Eleventh    Street  M.   E Eleventh   and   Ogden 

Fourth   Baptist    Fifth    and  Buttonwood 

North    Broad    Street   Baptist    Broad    and   Brown 

Zion  Lutheran    (German)    Franklin  and  Vine 

St.    Paul's    (German    Lutheran)     Fourth    and    Canal 

St.    Paul's   Independent   Lutheran    Third   and  Brown 

St.    John's  Lutheran    Race   Street   near  Sixth 

St.    Mark's  Lutheran    Spring   Garden   above   Thirteenth 

Northern  Liberties  Presbyterian   Ch....  Fifth   and  Buttonwood 

Central  and  N.  Broad  Presby.  Church Broad  and  Green 

Ch.  of  St.  Jude  and  the  Nativity  (P.  E.).llth  and  Mt.  Vernon 
St.    Stephen's    Protestant    Episcopal.  ..  .Tenth    above    Chestnut 

Christ   Protestant   Episcopal    Second  above   Market 

Grace   Protestant  Episcopal    Twelfth  and   Cherry 

German   Reformed    Fairmount   Ave.    below    Fourth 

First    Reformed    Church Tenth    and   Wallace 

Second  Reformed   Church    Seventh  above  Brown 

All  Souls    (P.   E.)    for  deaf  mutes    Franklin  above  Green 

Arch  Street  Meeting    (Society   of  Friends) .  .Fourth  and  Arch 


THE    CHURCHES 


77 


Church.  Location. 

Friends'   Meeting    Fourth  and  Green 

Fourth  Street  Meeting  (Soc.  of  Friends)  Fourth  and  Callowhill 

Zion  Baptist   (Colored)    Thirteenth  above  Wallace 

Ch.  of  the  Assumption,  R.  Catholic  Twelfth  and  Spring  Garden 

Roman   Catholic   Mission    Fourth   and  Brown 

St.    George's    Roman    Catholic Fourth    and    Milling 

St.    John's    Roman    Catholic    ....    Thirteenth    above    Chestnut 

Holy  Orthodox  Greek  Church   Franklin  below  Brown 

Salvation  Army  Hall    Eighth  and  Vine 

Volunteers    of    America    Ninth    and    Callowhill 

American  Salvation  Army   Ninth  above  Arch 

Gospel   Mission    Eighth   near   Callowhill 

Front  Street  Mission    Front  and  Green 

Congregation  Rodef  Shalom    Broad  and  Mount  Vernon 

A.   M.  E.   Melon  Street  Church    Melon  above  Twelfth 

Churches  That  Have  Removed  Since  1865. 

Church.  Denom.          Location.  Removed. 

Eleventh     Baptist.  .12th    above      Race.  .1886.  .21st   and 

Diamond 
First    African    Bapt..  .Cherry   above   10th.  .1897.  .16th    and 

Christian 
Spring  Garden  Bapt... 13th    and    Wallace.  .1889.  .19th   and 

Master 

Third     Church    Bapt.  .Front  and  Hazel 1890.  .Disbanded 

Mission 
Tenth    Bapt.      Bapt... 8th   above   Green.  ..  .1889.  .19th    and 

'Master 
Marble    Hall    Adven...7th    below    Poplar. .  .1887.  .17th    and 

Norris 

M.    E.  .Vine  below  12th 1887.. United   to 

form 

M.  E...13th    above    Vine 1887.  .13th     St. 

M.    E. 

M.     E..  .8th  above  Race...  .1883.. 15th  and  Mt. 

Vernon 
.1888. .20th  and 

Diamond 
M.    P..  .llth   and  Wood Disbanded 


Central  . 
Nazareth 
Trinity  . 
Union  .  . 
Grace  . 


M.    E..  .4th    below    Arch, 


Zoar  (colored)   M.  E..  .Fairmount    Ave 1897.  .16th  and 

.  .  near  Fifth    Fairmount 

First    Moravian  Franklin  and  Wood 1627   Fair- 
mount  Ave. 

First    Swederuborgian  Spring  Garden 1879.. 21st  and 

near   12th  Chestnut 

Arch.  .Presbyterian.  ,  .10th  .and  Arch 1898.  .United    with 

West  Arch   St.    Ch. 

North.  .Presbyterian..  .6th   above   Green 1900.. Broad  and 

Allegheny 

Second     Presbyterian.  .7th  below  Arch 187- .  .21st   and 

Walnut 
Spring     Presbyterian,  .llth    above    Green..  .1892.  .21st  and 

Garden  'Columbia 

Carmel    Presbyterian.  .New  St.   above   4th  .1892..  19th  and 

Susquehanna  Ave. 

Reformed     .  ..Presby.,  .Filbert  and   12th.  ...  '70'  s.  .Disbanded 
Swedish     .  .Lutheran.  .9th  and  Button-       .1908..  17th  and  Mt. 
wood  Vernon 


78  SOCIAL  CONDITION 


Church.  Denon,  Location. 

Latter    Day    Mormon.  .9th   and  Callowhill.  .1901.  .Howard    and 

Salmts  Ontario 

Spring  Unitarian.  .Broad    and    Spring.  .188-.  .Girard     Ave. 

Garden  Garden  west   of  15th   St. 

All  Universalist.  .Broad    and    Spring.  .188-.  .Disbanded 

Souls  Garden 

First    Ref.    Church  in.  .7th  and  Spring         ..1895.. 15th    and 
America  Garden  Dauphin 

Third  Ref.  Church  in.  .10th   and  Filbert 1882.  .Disbanded 

America 

First       Ref.       Dutch.  .Crown   above  Race.  .1873.  .Merged  with 
Church  another    Cong. 

First Reformed.  .Race    St.     between.  .1881.  .10th    and 

Third  &  Fourth  Wallace 

Universalist  Church.    .8th  and  Noble  .... '70's.  .Disbanded 

First     Disciples.  .12th  and  Wallace Berks  and 

Church   of  Christ  Marvine 

United     Presbyterian  .13th  and  Vine 1871.  .Disbanded 

Bishop    p.    E.  .Front  and    Callow- .about    1870. .Dis- 

White    Church  hill  banded    and    Cong. 

united    with    other 
Churches 

St.    Philip's    ..P.    E..  .'Spring  Garden  and 42d  and 

Broad  Baltimore  Ave. 

St.    Jude's    ....P.    E..  .Franklin   &  Brown  .1909.  .United   with 

Nativity,    llth   and 
Wallace 

Church  of  Covenant.  .  .Melon    and     12th. .1888.  .Now  at 
Reformed  Episcopal.  Broad  &  Venango 

Beth  Ameth  Hebrew.  .New     Market     and.  .1892.  .Disbanded 
Poplar 

Beth    Israel    Hebrew.  .7th    below    Race Broad  and 

(Portuguese    Jews)  York 

Ken*seth    ..  .Hebrew.  .6th   and  Brown    ...  .1886.  .Broad  and 

Israel  Columbia 

Greek     Catholic     Ch...9th     and      Button- closed  its  doors 

wood  February,   1909 

On  Sunday,  February  19th,  1911,  a  Methodist 
Episcopal  church  on  Front  street,  below  Girard1 
avenue  held  a  farewell  service  and  closed  its  doors. 
A  newspaper  account  says,  "The  service  at  which 
there  was  an  attendance  of  forty  was  very  sad  and 
impressive."  In  addition  to  the  churches  in  the 
above  table  others  are  about  to  move  out  of  the  dis- 
trict. Grace  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  at 
Twelfth  and  Cherry  will  soon  be  closed.  The  prop- 
erty of  this  congregation  was  sold  for  $150,000  in 


THE    CHURCHES  79 

1909.  A  newspaper  account  of  the  sale  of  the 
property  is  quoted :  "Following  in  the  wake  of  St. 
Jude's  and'  All  Saints',  Grace  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  Twelfth  and  Cherry  streets,  with  plenty  of 
money  hut  a  slim  congregation,  is  about  to  be  sold. 
The  lot  which  it  occupies  has  a  frontage  of  about 
100  feet  on  Twelfth  street,  and  about  150  feet  on 
Cherry  street,  back  to  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading 
railway,  which  will  buy  the  property.  The  price 
agreed  upon  is  $150,000. 

Grace  Church  in  years  gone  by,  had  a  large  and 
influential  congregation.  Samuel  Vaughn  Merrick, 
one  time  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad, 
was  active  in  the  membership,  which  included  a 
number  of  other  men,  prominent  in  professional  and 
business  circles.  But  for  several  years,  owing  to 
changes'  in  the  character  of  the  neighborhood,  the 
church  has  been  on  the  decline,-  until  now  it  is  to 
abandon  its  old  site,  and  seek  new  quarters)  in  a 
more  promising  field.  In  the  grave-yard  are  more 
than  sixty  vaults,  where  lie  the  ashes  of  many  well 
known  Philadelphians  of  a  half  century  ago.  The 
endowments  of  Grace  Church  amount  to  more  than 
$100,000,  and  the  selling  price  would  increase  the 
congregation's  funds  to  a  quarter  of  a  million  dol- 
lars with  which  to  start  in  a  new  neighborhood.  It 
is  thought  that  a  location  in  West  Philadelphia  will 
be  selected  for  this  purpose,  and  some  of  the  mem- 
bers are  in  favor  of  occupying  Grace  Church  Chapel, 
at  Girard  avenue  and  Forty-first  street.  The  chapel 
was  erected  twenty  years  ago  to  accommodate  those 


80  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

who  had  migrated1  westward  across  the  Schuylkill. 
Others,  however,  advocate  the  erection  of  a  new 
church. 

The  Baptist  Church  at  Broad  and  Brown  has  sold 
its  property  to  Temple  University  with  the  privilege 
of  using  the  building  until  the  new  university  build- 
ings are  erected  on  the  site.  The  congregation  has 
dwindled  to  less  than  fifty  members. 

In  1870,  there  were  about  sixty-five  churches  in 
this*  district  with  commodious  church  buildings  and 
valuable  property.  Today  there  are  only  about  thirty 
and  some  of  these  are  so  enfeebled  by  age  and  lack 
of  adaptation  to  their  environment  that  they  are 
anxiously  waiting  the  moment  to  sing  their  Nunc 
Dimittis.  Of  the  churches  that  have  removed  from 
the  district,  many  have  been  the  most  prominent 
congregations  in  their  respective  denominations.  In 
the  "seventies"  Bishop  Brooks,  T.  De  Witt  Talmage 
and  others  were  the  popular  pulpit  orators,  who 
served  congregations  in  this  district.  The  move- 
ment of  the  churches  out  of  the  district  is  pro- 
nounced and  it  is  still  going  on.  Population 
changes,  worshippers  move  away  and  churches  are 
left  without  support.  The  Protestant  churches  are 
retreating  in  almost  hopeless  confusion,  leaving  the 
district  and  its  inhabitants'  to  the  devil,  and  follow- 
ing their  wealthy  and  fashionable  members  to  the 
suburbs. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  not  retreating. 
She  is  holding  her  ground  and  in  some  sections'  is 
more  flourishing  today  than  ever.  She  stands  secure 


THE   CHURCHES  81 

like  a  rock  in  the  ocean,  unmoved  by  the  onward  tide 
of  business  interests,  the  coming  of  the  immigrant, 
things  which  seem  to  sweep  Protestantism  from  its- 
ancient  moorings.  In  her  charitable  efforts  and 
personal  ministration  to  the  masses  she  is  doing 
good  work  and  proclaims  the  Gospel  of  her  Lord  as 
she  understands  it,  and  interprets  the  spiritual  life 
of  men  to  a  vast  concourse  of  people. 

Amidst  these  changing  conditions  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  seems  to  retain  her  hold  on  the 
masses  and  maintains  her  glory  undimmed.  The 
social  student  sees  here  a  problem  that  calls  for 
solution.  How  is  it  that  she  pursues  her  conquer- 
ing way  in  spite  of  stupidities  that  would  have  hast- 
ened the  death  of  any  other  religious  body?  Some 
say  she  holds  only  the  ignorant.  This  is  untrue. 
Others  say  she  ministers  mostly  to  the  immigrant 
who  has  not  yet  adjusted  him'self  to  his  new  envi- 
ronment and  the  freedom  of  American  conditions. 
This,  too,  is  untrue.  For  whatever  discord  is  mani- 
fested in  her  efforts  to  maintain  the  harmony  of 
her  organization,  seems  to  come  from  the  foreign 
element  and  that  part  of  the  foreign  population  re- 
cently arrived'.  This  is  especially  true  in  the  Greek 
Catholic  Church.  She  has  many  that  are  uncul- 
tured worshipping  at  her  altars,  but  she  also  main- 
tains her  hold  upon  the  learned,  the  noble  and  the 
influential.  The  very  fact  that  she  is  able  to  bring 
out  such  hosts  of  wage-earning  men  and  women, 
who  have  worked  hard  through  the  week  and  many 
of  them  far  into  the  night,  but  who  are  willing  in 


82  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

the  early  hours  of  Sunday  morning  to  go  to  the 
house  of  God  and  engage  in  religious  ceremonies,  is 
a  phenomenon  worth  thinking  about,  It  is  certain 
they  do  not  go  to  hear  the  discussion  of  some  inter- 
esting social  problem  from  the  pulpits>  of  their 
church.  Nor  do  they  go  to  hear  some  famous  musi- 
cal composition.  They  go  to  celebrate  once  more 
the  death  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  On  the  altars 
of  the  Church  stands  the  crucifix.  Before  the  eyes 
of  every  faithful  Catholic  that  crucifix  is  held 
until  they  close  in  death.  He  goes  out  of  the  world 
thinking  of  Jesus  crucified.  That  seems  to  be  the 
power  that  gives  this  Church  such  a  strong  hold 
upon  the  masses,  educated  in  her  own  parochial 
schools  and  trained  from  infancy  to  worship  at  her 
altars.  The  fact  remains,  however,  we  may  try  to 
account  for  it,  that  the  Church  of  Rome  remains 
in  the  very  districts  from  which  the  Protestant 
Church  is  retreating  in  hopeless  confusion.  In  St. 
Malachy's  and  St.  Stephen's  Boman  Catholic 
churches,  more  people  may  be  found  worshiping 
each  Lord's*  Day  than  in  all  the  Protestant  church- 
es combined1. 

At  least  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  membership  of 
the  Protestant  churches  in  this  district  do  not  reside 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  churches.  The  average 
membership  of  the  Protestant  churches  in  the  dis- 
trict is  two  hundred  and  fifty.  There  are  a  few  con- 
gregations with  a  membership  of  five  hundred  or 
more;  on  the  other  hand  there  are  a  number  having 
less  than  one  hundred  members.  The  twenty  Prot- 


THE    CHURCHES  83 

estant  churches  have  four  thousand  five  hundred1 
members.  If  thirty-three  and  one-third  per  cent, 
of  the  members  lived  in  the  district,  we  would  have 
one  thousand  five  hundred  people  belonging  to 
Protestant  churches  in  a  district  with  a  population 
of  one  hundred  thousand. 

From  a  complete  investigation  of  a  large  resi- 
dence section  in  the  rooming  district  we  are  led  to 
believe  there  are  as  many  nominal  Protestants  in 
this  district  as  ever.  But  they  do  not  attend  the 
services  of  the  Church.  The  statement  has  been 
made  by  a  prominent  writer  and  investigator  of  re- 
ligious conditions  in  New  York  City,  that  only 
three  men  out  of  every  hundred  of  the  working- 
men  attend  divine  service.  This  statement  would 
hold  true  in  many  sections  of  Philadelphia,  In  one 
rooming-house  in  which  there  were  twenty-four 
roomers,  all  were  of  Protestant  antecedents.  Eigh- 
teen had  been  baptized  in  Protestant  churches  in 
infancy,  and  twenty-two  had  been  members  of  vari- 
ous Protestant  churches  during  some  period  of  their 
lives.  Only  one  of  the  twenty- four  was  a  regular  at- 
tendant of  a  church  in  the  neighborhood  and  still 
kept  up  his  church  connection.  Some  attended  ser- 
vices "occasionally" ;  another  always  went  to  church 
on  Easter  Sunday;  another  went  on  Christmas,  and 
still  another  attended  a  popular  musical  service  held 
by  a  certain  church  once  a  month.  In  an  investiga- 
tion of  more  than  three  hundred  persons,  all  of 
whom  claimed  to  be  Protestants^  we  found  ten  who 
were  fairly  regular  in  attendance  upon  the  services 
of  some  Protestant  church. 


84:  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

Why  has  the  Church  lost  her  hold  upon  these 
masses?  It  is  because  she  has  not  adjusted  herself 
to  the  changing  conditions  in  her  neighborhood.  She 
has  not  been  abreast  of  the  age.  "Out  of  date" 
method®  and  mediaeval  churches  are  a  failure  and 
a  farce  in  this  new  world,  which  is  the  result  of  a 
new  civilization.  The  robes  and  rags  of  supersti- 
tion have  no  attractive  force  in  these  days  of  light 
and  life.  Men  demand  a  church  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  a  new  century,  and  they  have  a  right  to 
that  demand;  that  church  is  a  traitor  to  its.  trust 
which  does  not  meet  it  A  building  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  with  an  undertaker's  sign  on  it  and 
the  address  of  the  sexton,  with  the  appearance  of  a 
sepulchre,  and  open  only  once  in  seven  days,  will 
always  repel  real  men.  The  church  that  does  not 
study  the  intelligent  application  of  her  Gospel  to 
the  needs  of  men,  that  does  not  follow  in  the  foot- 
steps of  Him,  who  came  "not  to  be  ministered  unto, 
but  to  minister,"  has  no  right  to  exist.  Many  of  the 
methods  of  the  Church  are  not  the  methods)  of  the 
age,  and  men  are  looking  at  it  as  they  do  at  any 
other  "article  of  antiquity."  The  sermons  and  ser- 
vices should  be  adapted  to  the  needs  of  men. 

The  church's  method  of  doing  business  repels. 
Many  churches'  fail  conspicuously  in  conducting 
their  own-  finances.  Where  is  the  business  man 
who  carries  on  his  work  the  same  way  as  he  did  in 
the  "sixties"?  Yet  the  Church  is  doing  this  very 
thing.  The  churches  in  this  section  are  ministering 
to  the  older  group  who  have  moved  out  of  the  dis- 


THE   CHURCHES  85 

trict,  but  who  for  sentimental  reasons  still  retain 
their  membership  in  the  old  church,  and  are  abso- 
lutely neglecting  the  newer  group  who  have  come  in. 
One  of  the  fundamental  weaknesses  of  these  old  tra- 
dition-ridden down-town  churches  is  the  lack  of  be- 
ing able  to  meet  changing  human  conditions  and 
adapting  themselves  to  their  new  environment.  They 
have  too  much  history  and  tradition,  and  whenever 
one  is^  bold  enough  to  suggest  a  change,  in  method, 
the  first  question  asked  is,  "What  has  been  our  cus- 
tom in  the  past  ?"  Many  churches  today  neglect  the 
life  and  cling  to  the  letter,  the  very  thing  on  which 
Jesus  fought  His  battle.  They  are  crystallized  into 
associations  for  cultivating  letters,  of  some  sort  or 
another  and  are  dodging  the  problems,  of  life.  That 
church  is  unfit  that  does1  not  adapt  her  activities  to 
the  needs  of  those  about  her.  There  are  ecclesiasti- 
cal delinquents  as  well  as  moral  delinquents.,  and 
their  fate  is  the  same — annihilation.  In  moving 
out  of  these  districts  the  church  is  only  following 
the  path  of  least  resistance.  It  is  easier  and  more 
pleasant  to  minister  to  the  wealthy  and  contented 
inhabitants  of  the  suburban  districts  than  to  solve 
the  complex  problems  and  needs  of  the  different 
groups  down-town, 

If  it  be  the  mission  of  the  Church  "to  seek  and 
save  the  lost"  she  can  find  no  more  fruitful  field  for 
the  prosecution  of  her  labors  than  this  very  district 
from  which  she  is  retreating.  Where  can  she  find  a 
larger  sphere  for  her  ministrations  than  in  these 
places  where  squalor  and  crime  reign  supreme,  where 


86  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

hard  lines  of  lust  and  poverty  are  written  on  faces 
that  never  smile,  where  children  are  born  and  raised, 
in  a  single  room,  and  never  know  the  real  comforts 
of  home,  and  often  are  robbed  of  a  fond  mother's 
love  and  a  father's  care  ?  Where  can  she  find  a  larger 
sphere  of  influence  than  among  this  typical  young 
American  who  fills  the  rooming  houses?  He  is  in 
the  prime  of  life,  in  the  vigorous  years  of  industrial 
productive  power,  and  universally  driven  on  by  the 
conviction  of  success.  Among  this  great  number  of 
unattached  men  and  women  are  thousands  of  her 
own  children  who  have  turned  away  from  her  altars 
because  of  a  lack  of  sympathy  on  the  part  of  those 
who  call  themselves  the  followers  of  Jesus  and  find 
comfort  in  the  meetings  of  the  Socialists  or  even 
among  those  who  fly  the  red  flag  of  anarchy. 

Many  of  the  churches  have  apparently  felt  their 
mistake  in  forsaking  these  communities  and  are  now 
trying  to  atone  for  it  by  coming  back  into  the  very 
territory  which  they  once  abandoned.  To  many  of 
these  regions  the  "settlement"  is  returning,  often 
under  the  support  and  patronage  of  the  very  denomi- 
nation which  once  abandoned  a  church  in  the  same 
territory. 

It  would  have  been  a  far  wiser  and  saner  plan  to 
keep  the  church  open  in  the  first  place.  Judicious 
aid  from  wealthy  congregations  or  from  the  mission 
boards  of  the  Church  at  large  should  have  been,  ex- 
tended without  requiring  the  congregation  aided,  to 
lose  its  identity  and  independence.  This  would  have 


THE    CHURCHES  87 

kept  the  diminishing  worshipera  together,  given  a 
base  for  moral  and  religious  effort  and,  in  turn, 
brought  together  a  new  flock.  The  Christian  Church 
is  a  missionary  Church.  Where  there  are  souls  to 
save  and  conditions  to  be  improved  it  dare  not  re- 
treat. The  same  spirit,  force  and  grace,  which  once 
established  and  founded  churches  should  surely  be 
equal  to  preserve  and  support  those  that  now  exist. 
While  nearly  all  the  denominational  boards*  whose 
churches  are  represented  in  the  congested  district 
have  active  field  missionaries  ministering  in  the  sub- 
urbs of  our  great  cities,  none  have  felt  it  incumbent 
upon  them  to  solve  the  great  problems  of  those:  dis- 
tricts where  churches  are  manifestly  needed.  They 
establish  missions  in  the  undeveloped  sections  of  the 
city  because  there  is  a  large  population  expected  to 
make  their  home  there,  whom  the  church  hopest  to 
reach,  and,  at  the  same  time,  old  established  congre- 
gations are  closing  their  doors  in  those  sections  of 
the  city  where  there  is  a  congested  population  whom 
they  have  failed  to  reach. 

The  prevailing  reason  most  churches  give  for  hav- 
ing removed  from  the  district  is  that  the  foreigner 
has  come  in.  This  is  true  in  many  sections.  There 
are,  too,  thousands-  of  unchurched,  native-born  Amer- 
icans in  the  "furnished  room"  houses  of  the  city.  A 
class  of  people  the  Protestant  Church  must  minister 
to,  if  she  means  to  be  a  thing  of  power  in  our 
American,  city  life.  Most  of  these  "roomers"  have 
come  from1  the  rural  districts  and  smaller  towns  of 
Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  and  Dela- 


88  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

ware,  It  is  a  sad  commentary  on  Protestantism  that 
her  churches  move  out  when  her  children  move  in. 

The  failure  of  the  Church  to  reach  the  residents 
in  her  neighborhood  is  not  the  fault  of  the  Church 
alone.  Whatever  affects  the  home  affects  the  Church. 
Home  life  has  suffered  material  changes'  within  re- 
cent years.  The  tendency  of  our  day  is  toward  the 
destruction  of  some  of  its  essential  features.  The 
furnished  room  district  is  practically  homeless..  Not 
only  are  the  tenements-,  apartments,  and  furnished 
rooms*  practically  homeless;,  but  the  residents  are  in 
a  constant  state  of  migration,  and  all  this  has  much 
to  do  with  the  relation  of  the  Church  to  the  people 
and  its  influence  upon  them.  The  most  powerful 
grip  of  the  Church  must  be  upon  the  home.  The 
church  attendance  is  considered!  as  secondary  in  im- 
portance in  the  boy's  life.  School  attendance  is  pri- 
mary. 

Many  men  of  today  do  not  attend  church,  because 
the  parenta  of  yesterday  did  not  train  them  in  this 
most  eacred  duty.  The  work  of  the  Church  in  her  re- 
lation to  society  has  been  misunderstood  and  mis- 
represented in  the  modern  social  discussions.  The 
Church  saves  society  by  first  saving  the  individual. 
It  declares  that  the  fatherhood  of  God  must  precede1 
the  brotherhood  of  man.  The  seeds  of  individual  re- 
generation will  at  last  produce  the  golden  harvest  of 
a  perfect  society  for  the  secret  of  all  social  wrong 
rests  in  the  individual  heart.  The  Church  is  by  no 
means  perfect,  as  we  have  discovered'  and  courage- 
ously declared,  but  the  whole  burden  of  fault,  as 


THE   CHURCHES  89 

some  have  supposed,  does  not  rest  under  her.  The  in- 
dividual and  society  must  bear  their  share  of  the 
blame. 

There  is  a  hopeful  side  to  the  problem.  The 
churches  are  beginning  to  see  they  owe  a  duty  to 
those  about  them.  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
of  St.  Jude  and  the  Epiphany  at  Eleventh  and 
Mount  Vemon  streets  has  erected  a  commodious 
parish  house,  which  is  open  every  night  and  isi  in- 
tended to  meet  the  needs  of  the  neighborhood.  The 
Central  and  North  Broad  Street  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Broad  and  Green  streets,  with  an  endow- 
ment fund  of  $400,000,  has  decided  to  engage  in 
neighborhood  work.  St.  Mark's  Lutheran  Church, 
at  Thirteenth  and  Spring  Garden,  has  rented1  a  hall 
for  a  men's  club  and  is  contemplating  one  for  the 
women.  The  solution  to  the  difficult  problem  we 
have  presented  must  be  worked  out  gradually,  and 
very  likely  will  be  effective  only  after  innumerable 
failures.  It  may  be  that  the  future  church  for  this 
neighborhood  will  be  institutional  in  character.  One 
thing  is  certain,  the  solution  will  not  be  reached  un- 
til the  Church  has  placed  a  larger  force  of  trained 
workers  in  the  field.  These  trained  workers  should 
be  educated  not  only  theologically,  but  well  drilled 
in  social  work.  So  long  as  the  Church  makes  no 
proper  provision  for  such  trained  workers,  so  long 
will  the  problem  remain  unsolved.  The  church  that 
will  meet  the  need  of  the  toiling  masses  and  give 
them  a  little  of  the  salt  of  life  that  the  stale  flat- 
ness of  their  existence  may  be  somewhat  disguised, 
will  be  the  church  of  the  future  in  the  crowded  city. 


90  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

Schools. 

The  strongest  agency  for  good  in  this  district  is 
the  public  school.  Taking  the  whole  district  into 
consideration,  we  find  that  the  population  is  mixed 
and  congested.  There  are  many  foreigners  in  some 
parts.  In  one  of  the  large  schools,  the  "Wyoming 
Combined  Grammar  and  Primary  School,"  at  Sixth 
and  Fairmount  avenue,  seventy  per  cent,  of  all  the 
scholars  are  Hebrews.  On  a  recent  Jewish  holiday 
one  class  with  an  enrollment  of  forty-three  pupils 
had  an  attendance  of  six.  There  are  a  number  of 
Germans,  Letts  and  Slovaks  in  this  neighborhood. 
Ninety-two  per  cent,  of  the  pupils  are  children  of 
foreign  birth,  or  of  foreign  parents. 

I  submit  a  table  of  the  schools  in  the  district  with 
the  number  of  scholars  enrolled  and  the  percentage 
above  the  normal  age  in  order  to  determine  if  pos- 
sible some  of  the  causes  of  retardation* 

Enroll-  £    above 

Name   of  School.                      Location.             ment.     normal  age. 

Mifflin     Third    above    Brown...      676  29.8 

E.    M.    Paxson    Buttonwood    below    6th     907  38.9 

Adams     (Special    School) .  .Darien     below     Button- 
wood     116  84.4 

Warner     6th    and    Fairmoimt     ..      851  38.7 

Wyoming     8th   above   Parrish    496  36.2 

John    Hancock     12th     and    Fairmount.  .1,088  46.5 

Robert        Vaux          (Special 

School     Wood  and  Twelfth 165  78.1 

Spring    Garden    Twelfth    and    Ogden    .  .      339  31.6 

Northern    Liberties     Third  below  Green 946  33.2 

Madison     New        Market       above 

Noble    824  37.6 

School    of   Observation   and 

Practise    13th  and  Spring  Garden     479  12.0 

Does  this  table  present  a  problem'  ?  The  percentage 
of  children  above  the  normal  age  is  too  high.  The 
question  at  once  arises  what  are  the  causes  of  this 
condition?  Many  answers  have  been  given.  Some 


THE   SCHOOLS  91 

claim  it  is  due  to  the  immigrant  children,  retarded 
because  they  are  unacquainted  with  the  language. 
We  need  waste  no  time  in  refuting  this  statement. 
We  see  from  "the  table  that  the  school®  which  have 
the  largest  percentage  of  children  of  foreign  birth 
and)  parentage,  do  not  have  as  large  a  number  of 
children  above  the  normal  age  as  those  schools  situ- 
ated in  districts  where  children  of  foreign  parentage 
are  rarely  found  among  the  school  population.  The 
Wyoming  School,  composed  almost  exclusively  of 
foreign  children,  has  an  average  of  38.7  per  cent, 
above  the  normal  and  the  John  Hancock  School,  at 
Twelfth  and  Fairmount  avenue,  where  hardly  any 
foreign  children  are  found,  has  an  average  of  46.5 
per  cent,  above  the  normal  age.  How  will  we  account 
for  this  difference  in  retardation  ?  It  eurely  cannot 
be  due  to  "adenoids",  "defective  eyesight"  or  "defec- 
tive hearing".  Is  it  not  noteworthy  that  in  this  dis- 
trict, so  similar  in  character,  such  extremes  should 
be  found,?  The  number  of  children  above  normal 
age  in  the  different  grades:  is  higher  in  the  "fur- 
nished room"  and  "apartment  or  room  to  let"  dis- 
trict than  any  other  place.  The  fault  does  not  lie 
in  the  schools  or  in  the  curriculum.  It  lies  in  the 
home.  The  children  whose  parents  live  in  "rooms" 
are  frequently  the  children!  of  poverty.  They  lead 
an  irregular,  hand-to-mouth  existence  from  day  to 
day.  Poverty's  misery  falls  hardest  upon  the  chil- 
dren. Underfed  children  cannot  be  taught  as  effec- 
tively as  well-fed  children.  "Defective  feeding" 
should  be  looked  into  as  well  as  defective  vision  and 


92  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

defective  eye-sight.  Associated  with  underfeeding 
are  such  evils  as  over-crowding,  ill-ventilation  and1 
insufficient  clothing.  The  children  from  these  fur- 
nished rooms  for  housekeeping,  are  not  only  suffer- 
ing from1  under-nutrition  but  from  lack  of  a  proper 
amount  of  warm  clothing,  and  from  unsanitary 
home-surroundings.  What  effect  does  this  improper 
environment  have  on  the  progress'  of  the  child  in 
school  ?  An  unfavorable  environment  can  only  cause 
physical  and  mental  retardation. 

The  school  at  Twelfth  and  Fairmount  avenue  has 
the  highest  percentage  of  children  above  the 
normal  in  the  whole  district  (not  taking  into  account 
the  special  schools).  Contrary  to  expectation,  this 
school  is  not  in  the  foreign  settlements,  but  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  "furnished  room"  district.  Here 
are  found  a  class  of  children  who  suffer  from  a  lack  of 
proper  food,  not  because  of  the  poverty  of  the  parents, 
as  much  as  of  the  inability  of  the  parents  to  care  for 
them  properly.  The  child  in  the  "rooming-house" 
is  deprived  of  a  proper  amount  of  well-cooked  and 
nourishing  food.  The  frying-pan  is  the  principal 
cooking  utensil,  and  the  most  unpalatable  food  is 
placed  before  the  child.  The  question  here  is  not 
"How  many  children  are  'underfedf,  but  as  to  how 
many  are  poorly  fed." 

We  have  interviewed  a  number  of  principals  and 
teachers  on  the  subject  of  improper  feeding  among 
the  children  of  the  public  schools.  All  agree  that 
there  are  a  number  of  children  suffering  from  im- 
proper feding,  but  when  pressed  for  definite  infor- 


THE   SCHOOLS  93 

mation  their  statements  were  rather  vague.  One  prin- 
cipal said :  "More  than  ten  per  cent,  of  my  children 
suffer  from  improper  feeding."  The  teachers  say 
there  are  many  children  in  the  schools'  who  get  only 
those  miserably  poor  breakf  astei  of  coffee  and!  bread. 
One  of  the  bright  boys,  living  in  the  "rooming 
house"  district,  was  very  anxious  to  go  with  his  class 
to  the  "Zoological  Garden."  The  city  furnishes  free 
tickets  of  admission  to  all  the  public  school  children. 
Thisi  particular  grade  had  chartered'  a  car  to  take 
them  to  the  "Zoo."  The  cost  of  transportation 
amounted  to  fifteen  cents  a  head.  On  the  day  be- 
fore the  contemplated  trip  the  boy  told  the  teacher 
he  could  not  go,  because  he  did  not  have  the  fifteen 
cents.  The  teacher  knowing  that  'this  boy  sold  the 
Evening  Bulletin,  inquired  whether  he  did  not  make 
enough  money  selling  papers  to  pay  for  his  ticket. 
She  learned  that  the  family  lived  in  two  rooms  and 
that  they  had  only  had  bread,  bread  for  breakfast  all 
winter,  and  that  the  boy  was  contributing  the  fifteen 
cents  he  earned  each  evening  by  selling  papers,  to- 
wards' the  payment  of  the  rent. 

Some  children  suffer  from  over-feeding.  A  short 
time  ago  a  boy  thirteen  years  old  was  taken  ill  soid^ 
denly  in  the  Wyoming  School  and  was  immediately 
sent  to  the  Children's  Homeopathic  Hospital.  When 
the  principal  asked  the  mother  what  the  boy  had 
eaten  she  told  him  he  had  eaten  about  a  half  pound 
of  Sweitzer  cheese  for  breakfast  and  a  box  of  sar- 
dines for  lunch. 

In  another  school  there  is  an  overfed  boy  eleven 


94  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

years  old  in  the  third  year  A.  He  is  well  developed 
physically,  and"  there  is  no  apparent  reason  for  his 
retardation.  After  the  principal  consulted  with  his 
mother  they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  boy  ate 
too  much.  He  eats  four  or  five  large  sandwiches  for 
his  lunch  and  as  many  apples  or  bananas.  At  hie 
home  he  eats  as  much  as  any  two  members'  of  the 
family  combined. 

Let  us  return  once  more  to  the  study  of  the  statisr 
tics  in  our  table.  We  find  the  lowest  percentage  of 
children  above  the  normal  age  in  the  School  of 
Practise  and  Observation,  connected  with  the  Girls' 
Normal  School  at  Thirteenth  and  Spring  Garden 
streets.  The  pupils  of  this  school  are  selected  with 
care.  They  are  far  above  the  average  children  found 
in  any  community.  The  majority  of  them  are  the 
children  of  wealthy  parents  living  in  the  suburbs. 
They  are  well-fed  and  live  in  the  most  favorable  en- 
vironment, so  that  the  marvel  is  not  that  the  per- 
centage of  this  school  is  so  very  low,  but  that  it 
actually  amounts  to  twelve  per  cent. 

Some  efforts  have  been  made  to  solve  the  problem 
of  underfeeding  in  the  congested  "rooming"  dis- 
tricts1 of  the  city  by  the  introduction  of  the  penny 
luncheons.  These  are  given  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Starr  Centre.  The  aim  is  to  give  children  as 
much  wholesome  food  as  possible  for  the  money.  The 
unit  of  value  is  one  cent.  The  idea  is1  to  have  the 
children  cultivate  a  taste  for  good  substantial  food. 
At  present  it  is  still  in  the  experimental  stage.  If 
it  serve®  to  educate  the  children  of  the  poor  in  the 


AMUSEMENTS  95 

use  of  food  and  food  value®  it  will  accomplish,  a 
good  work. 

We  reach  the  following  conclusions  on  thi&  sub- 
ject: 

1.  Underfeeding  and  improper  feeding  is<  respon- 
sible for  much  of  the  backwardness  of  the  children 
in  the  public  schools. 

2.  It   is  more  prevalent   in   the  congested   and 
"rooming"  districts  than  in  other  sections. 

3.  A  systematic  effort  should  be  made  to  deter- 
mine its  extent. 

4.  The  state  should  provide  luncheon  for  those 
who  cannot  afford  a  proper  food  supply. 

5.  Lectures  and  demonstrations  on  food  and  food 
values  should  be  given  in  the  schools1. 

Amusements. 

The  whole  subject  of  amusements  is  a  serious  one, 
and  cannot  be  dismissed  without  some  thought. 
Amusement  places  of  every  kind  abound  in  the  dis- 
trict. Most  of  them  are  centered  on  Eighth  street, 
but  moving  picture  houses  are  numerous:  in  other 
sections.  On  April  1,  -1910,  there  were  eighteen 
places  of  amusement  on  Eighth  street  between  Race 
and  Vine,  varying  in  character  as  follows: 

Five  Moving  Picture   Shows. 

Five    Shooting    Galleries     Nos.     253-206-218-222-234 

Bijou    Theatre     Nos.    211-217. 

Circle    Show     No.    219. 

Wonderland     Museum     Nos.   241-245. 

Forepaugh's     Theatre      Nos.    255-259. 

Majestic    Vaudeville    Nos.    265-267. 

Museum    of    Anatomy     No.  224. 

Penny     Peep     No.   235. 

Palmistry    and    Pictures    No.   232. 


96  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

This  block  is  a  regular  midway  of  license  and 
pleasure,  drawing  the  rabble  from  all  parts  of  the 
city. 

On  Arch  street  are  found  a  number  of  vile  the- 
atres such  as  the  Trocadero,  the  Dime  Museum,  and 
others.  On  Market  street  are  found  a  number  of 
high-grade  "movies."  On  the  southwestern  confines 
of  the  dictrict  are  two  high-class  theatres,  erected 
recently,  the  Lyric  and  the  Adelphi.  At  Broad  and 
Poplar  is  the  magnificent  Philadelphia  Opera  House 
erected  by  Oscar  Hammerstein.  At  Broad  and  Fair- 
mount  avenue  is  The  Grand,  which  until  two  years 
ago  was.  one  of  the  most  popular  theatres  in  the  city, 
but  which  has  now  been  converted  into  a  moving- 
picture  and  vaudeville  house.  What  is  to  be  the 
outcome  of  all  this  melodrama,  music,  picture-shows, 
vaudeville,  etc.?  Archbishop  Farley,  of  New  York 
City  says:  "The  stage  is  worse  today  than  it  was 
in  the  days  of  paganism.  We  see  today  men  and 
women — old  men  and  women — who  ought  to  know 
better,  bringing  their  young  to  these  orgies  of  ob- 
scenity. Instead  of  that  they  should  be  exercising  a 
supervision  over  the  young,  and  should  look  care- 
fully after  their  companionship." 

A  certain  amount  of  amusement  is  both  necessary 
and  desirable  in  this  age  of  the  industrial  revolution. 
Nor  need  this  amusement  be  of  the  highest  grade. 
Many  people  do  not  appreciate  a  Greek  art  lecture 
or  the  essays  of  a  Browning  Club.  They  will  get  as 
much  real  enjoyment  out  of  a  performance  at  a 
vaudeville  exhibition  as  they  would'  from  Mary  Gar- 


AMUSEMENTS  97 

den  playing  Salome  at  the  opera  house.  Too  often 
people  condemn  the  "bad  taste"  and  "low  morals"  of 
every  form  of  amusement  which  does  not  have  the 
imprint  of  their  own  more  discriminating  culture. 

Dr.  Patten,  in  the  New  Basia  of  Civilization,  says : 
"Punch  and  the  clown  are  as  valuable  as  the  comic 
muses  of  the  Greek  drama,  because  they  also  mark 
an  epoch  in  man's  growth.  The  primitive  man,  de- 
energized  by  work,  craves  no  more  activity  and  is 
happy  while  he  rest®,  if  he  can  be  made  to  feel  in- 
tensely. It  is  necessary,  therefore,  not  only  to  start 
the  current  of  his  thought,  but  to  direct  it  by  the 
nearest  and  most  direct  stimulus.  This  exists1  in  its 
most  accessible  form  in  the  people's)  theatre,  which 
utilizes  material  gathered  from  immemorial  sources 
and  sets  forth  the  life  process  in  the  popular  melo- 
drama of  the  hour."  He  makes1  a  strong  plea  for 
amusements  of  all  kinds.  We  need  more  amuse- 
ments' today  than  ever  before.  It  seems,  however, 
that  the  character  of  our  amusements  isi  degenerat- 
ing. The  trail  of  the  Tenderloin  is  on  our  stage. 
What  does  this  mean  ?  It  means  that  a  trivial,  pleas- 
ure-loving, hectic  class  of  men  and  women,  who 
make  up  so  large  a  part  of  the  theatrical  audiences 
of  Broadway,  New  York,  are  imposing  their  stand- 
ards, their  vulgarity  upon  the  American  stage.  It 
means,  as  Walter  Prichard  Eaton,  in  Success  Maga- 
zine for  April,  1909,  declares:  "That  today,  as  the 
result  of  the  tyrannical  dominance  of  a  group  of 
New  York  theatrical  managers  over  the  theatres  of 
the  entire  country,  an  unprecedented  wave  of  licen- 


98  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

tiousness1  in  theatrical  entertainment  has  arisen  and 
is  moving  out  from  the  Tenderloin,  into  the  real 
United  States.  Vaudeville  is  already  inundated.. 
Musical  comedy  has  in  the  past  two  or  three  years 
sunk  in  many  cases  to  the  level  of  back- alley  Pari- 
sian indecency.  The  dramatic  stage  has  felt  the  in- 
fluence and  let  down  the  gates  to  forces  of  the  rank- 
est suggest!  veness.  And  this  is.  because  such  plays 
"pay"  in  the  Tenderloin  of  New  York  City,  and  so 
acquire  a  reputation  that  piques  curiosity  through- 
out the  country." 

The  only  thing  that  will  stop  indecent  exhibitions 
on  our  stage  is  an  aroused  popular  sentiment,  that 
will  make  them  unprofitable.  It  is  the  public  to 
whom  the  appeal  must  be  made,  the  public  not  of 
the  Tenderloin,  but  of  the  country.  The  advertising 
manager  and  advance  agent  for  Al.  Wilson,  who 
stars  the  country  in  an  independent  company,  says 
the  American  people  do  want  a  clean,  decent  show, 
and  will  support  it.  This  accounts  for  his  phenome- 
nal suoces  in  such  shows  as  "When  New  York  Was 
Dutch,"  "Metz  in  the  Alps,"  "Metz  in  Ireland,"  etc. 
Al.  Wilson  meets  with  crowded  houses  everywhere. 
No  stronger  proof  of  the  fact  that  the  average  man 
and  woman  wants  a  good,  clean  show  need'  be  men- 
tioned than  the  support  given  to  William  Hodge  in 
"The  Man  from  Home,"  which  has  been  playedl  to 
crowded  houses  for  months  in,  the  Adelphi  Theatre. 
The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  "Country  Boy," 
playing  at  the  Walnut  Street  Theatre;  or  of  "The 
Fortune  Hunter"  playing  at  the  Garrick. 


AMUSEMENTS  99 

The  average  "roomer"  prefers  a  clean  show.  Be- 
cause the  vile  theatres  are  situated  between  the  busi- 
ness and  "rooming"  districts,  one  must  not  draw  the 
conclusion  that  they  are  here  because  they  receive 
the  patronage  of  the  "roomer."  In  a  study  of  three 
hundred  "roomers"  we  found  that  two  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  had  never  been  in  a  theatre  or  moving- 
picture  show  on  Eighth  street.  That  is  a  good  rec- 
ord, especially,  when  we  bear  in  mind  that  these 
theatres  and  shows  are  within  easy  walking  distance 
of  their  homes.  In  a  study  of  four  "rooming-houses" 
on  Spring  Garden  street  in  February,  1911,  we 
learned  that  sixty-seven  "roomers"  living  in  one 
block  had  been  to  see  Wm.  Hodge  play  "The  Man 
from  Home." 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  average  "roomer" 
prefers  a  clean  play  or  a  decent  "moving-picture" 
show  to  the  trash  of  the  tenderloin  theatres.  Inde- 
cency does  not  appeal  to  the  "roomer"  any  more  than 
it  does  to  the  average  group  of  men  in  other  sur- 
roundings, even  though  the  cheap  theatres  flaunt 
their  suggestive  plays  in  his  eyes  on  bill-boards  at 
every  corner  he  passes.  On  a  single  bill-board,  in 
this  district  we  saw  the  following  "ad&"  very  sugges- 
tively illustrated:  "Miss  Innocence,"  "The  Girl 
from  Rector's,"  "Out  Saloming  Salome,"  "The 
Queen  of  the  Moulin  Rouge,"  "Cleopatra  Dance," 
"The  Whooping  Cough  Girl." 

The  worst  feature  so  far  as  the  influence  of  these 
shows  is  concerned,  and  so  far  as  their  influence  on  the 
district  is  concerned,  is  the  so-called  amateur  nights 


100  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

in  theatres  like  the  Trocadero  and1  Gayety.  Here 
little  boys  and  girls  of  very  tender  years  give  vaude- 
ville  sketches,  sing  songs  and  dance.  These  children 
are  accompanied  by  their  parents,.  The  children 
generally  perform  near  the  close  of  the  show.  Some- 
times it  is  eleven  o'clock  before  they  are  put  on  the 
stage.  They  have  been  sitting  in  the  auditorium  all 
the  evening,  listening  to  all  forms  of  indecency  and 
suggestion.  They  are  usually  the  children  of  poor 
parents  who  use  this  means  of  increasing  the  family 
income.  They  are  the  children  of  the  "rooming- 
houses."  School  principals  complain  of  backward 
children  who  do  stunts  at  these  shows.  Mr.  Kin- 
cade,  of  the  Society  for  Prevention,  of  Cruelty  to 
Children,  has  numerous  records  on  hand,  showing 
where  this  organization  had  to  step  in  and  rescue 
children  from  the  cruelties  of  parents  who  compelled 
their  little  ones  to  do  these  stunts  on  amateur  nights. 
Perhaps  you  may  be  a  little  skeptical  as  to  the  in- 
decent character  of  many  of  these  shows.  You  may 
even  be  a  trifle  annoyed  by  this  suggestion  of  "lurk- 
ing danger,"  and  may  question  the  writer's  standard 
of  "decency,"  and  think  it  prudish  or  hyper-critical. 
You  don't  go  to  such  shows.  Your  pleasant  sur- 
roundings seem  quite  as  pleasant  as  ever,  you  are 
sure  people  are  just  as  moral.  Is  it  not  "poison," 
or  a  danger  to  the  adolescent  mind  when  half -naked 
women  make  suggestive  gestures,  in  the  glare  of  the 
footlights,  directly  in  the  face  of  the  boy?  Songs 
are  sung,  and  gross  dialogue  spoken  that  are  inde- 
cent and  suggestive.  Ten  years  ago  Mr.  Keith  would) 


AMUSEMENTS  101 

not  allow  an  actress  who  impersonated!  a  French 
maid  in  a  sketch  at  his  Boston  theatre  to  wear  silk 
stockings,  because  silk  stockings  were  suggestive  of 
fast  life.  Today  many  "headliners"  who  are  women, 
appear  on  the  vaudeville  stage  with  no  stockings1  at 
all.  Barefoot  dancers  are  common  occurrences.  Re- 
cently a  dance  was  done  in  this  city  by  a,  woman 
who  was  apparelled  only  in  jewels  and  spangles.  She 
did  not  even  wear  a  gauze  skirt. 

Last  year  a  professional  woman  swimmer  appeared) 
in  a  skin-tight  union  suit,  and  in  order  to  make  the 
act,  which  is  naturally  only  an  athletic  exhibition, 
suggestive,  the  managers  put  on  the  stage  a  man 
with  a  camera  to  impersonate  a  peeper.  In  the  "Fol- 
lies of  1910"  a  young  woman  applies  to  the  manager 
for  a  position  in  vaudeville,  stating  that  she  has  a 
figure  which  will  please,  The  manager  replies:  "I 
am  from  Missouri  and  must  be  shown."  She  throws 
off  a  silk  robe  which  she  is  wearing  and  stands  be- 
fore the  audience  without  any  clothing,  save  a  skin- 
colored  loin  cloth. 

The  "Soul  Kiss"  is  full  of  suggestions  of  impur- 
ity. "The  Queen  of  the  Moulin  Rouge"  is  said  to 
go  the  limit.  It  depicts  alleged  Parisian  life.  Paris 
revolted  at  two  of  its  dancers.  Assaults  on  the  physi- 
cal passions  are  made  throughout  the  play.  The 
"Girl  from  Rector's"  is  a  made  over  play  from  a 
vile  French  farce.  In  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  the  po- 
lice ordered  the  posters  for  this  play  off  the  fences-, 
and  finally  closed  the  play  up. 

Shows  of  this  character  are  playing  continually 


102  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

in  the  rooming  district.  It  is  not  necessarily  true, 
however,  that  these  shows  are  patronized  solely  or 
even  mostly  by  the  roomers.  Visitors-  in  the  city 
attend  these  theatres*.  There  are  more  than  one 
thousand  transients  in  Philadelphia  hotels  every 
day.  Every  night  these  visitors  go  to  see  some  show. 
The  visiting  buyer  must  be  entertained.  Such  an 
entertainer  told  me  how  he  had  procured'  seats*  for  a 
visiting  buyer  from  Williamsport  to  see  Wm.  Hodge 
in  the  "Man  from  Home."  The  buyer  sneered  con- 
temptuously. "Say,"  he  remarked,  "I  get  to  Philly 
once  or  twice  a  year.  Do  you  think  I  want  to  go  to 
a  Sunday-school  convention  or  a  pink  tea?"  The 
seats  were  sold,  and  tickets  procured  for  the  Troca- 
dero.  The  tenderloin  theatres  are  not  composed  en- 
tirely of  degenerate  residents  of  the  slums,  of  wicked 
gamblers,  of  "furnished  roomers,,"  and  painted 
blondes  of  doubtful  virtue.  The  man  from  the 
country,  the  resident  of  the  fashionable  suburbs,  the 
business  man  who  is  lonely  because  his  wife  has 
gone  to  see  her  mother  help  fill  these  houses.  These 
theatres  are  here  rather  than  elsewhere  because  of 
their  central  location  near  the  railroad  terminals, 
giving  their  patrons  from  the  country  easy  access 
to  the  trains.  They  are  here  because  of  the  cheap 
rooming  and  lodging  house  and  so-called  "hotels," 
or  "theatrical  houses"  which  flourish  in  this  district 
and  furnish  the  actresses  and  chorus  girls  with  tem- 
porary shelter  and  board.  Without  the  patronage 
of  transients  in  the  city  and  residents  of  the  suburbs 
and  outlying  country  districts,  more  than  one-half 
of  these  theatres  would  be  compelled  to  close  up. 


AMUSEMENTS  103 

The  most  popular  amusement  in  our  city  today  is 
the  moving  picture  show.  It  is  found  everywhere. 
It  is  commonly  called  "The  Movies,"  or  the  "Moves." 
Thousands  of  school  children  attend  the  "movies" 
daily.  The  so-called  tenderloin,  on  the  verge  of  the 
furnished1  room  district,  is  filled  with  "movies."  The 
moving*  picture  show  is  a  cheap  form  of  amusement 
and  is  capable  of  doing  a  great  deal  of  good.  For 
instance,  the  work  being  done  on  the  Panama  Canal 
could  be  shown  or  the  progress  madie  in  irrigation  in 
the  West,  or  the  processes  of  raising  cattle  and  ship- 
ping them  to  market,  or  the  intricacies  in  making  a 
Panama  hat,  etc.  Instead  of  this  we  have  such 
scenes  as  shop-lifting,  lynching,  etc.,  depicted.  Less 
than  a  year  ago  a  number  of  school  children;  lynched 
a  companion,  carrying  out  the  deed  as  it  had  been 
portrayed  in  a  moving-picture  show,  and  the  boy  was 
barely  rescued  in  time,,  and  suffered  for  weeks  from 
his  experience. 

Mayor  McClellan  met  the  evil  in  New  York  by 
appointing  a  small  commission,  whose  head  was  the 
late  Charles  Sprague  Smith,  the  organizer  of  the 
People's  Institute  at  Cooper  Union.  No  film  can 
be  exhibited  in  Greater  New  York  until  it  has  been 
passed  upon  by  this  Commission.  Its  moral  stand- 
ards have  been  high.  Films  that  are  vulgar,  as  well 
as  those  that  are  suggestive  of  evil,  are  excluded. 
A  liberal  judgment  is  applied.  The  Commission 
bears  in  mind  that  the  moving-picture  audience  de- 
sires sentiment,  is  amused  by  trifles  and)  cares  for 
action. 


104  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

Such  censorship  is  needed  in  Philadelphia.  An 
actual  count  in  Boston  shows  that  four  hundred 
thousand  persons  visited  the  "movies"  in  a  single 
week.  The  number  attending  in  Philadelphia  has 
been  estimated  by  the  Evening  Bulletin  to  be  con- 
siderable over  one  million  weekly.  A  closer  super- 
vision is  needed  to  protect  this  popular  form  of 
amusement.  Nine  teachers  of  a  school  in  the  dis- 
trict we  have  been  studying  asked  their  pupils 
whether  they  had  ever  seen  a  moving  picture  show. 
All  had  seen  them.  These  children  were  in  the  first 
to  the  fourth  grades.  In  a  Sunday-school  of  the 
district,  with  more  than  two  hundred  present,  the 
same  question  was  asked,  and  all  had  been  to  the 
"movies"  excepting  four  little  children  in  the  lowest 
primary  department.  We  learn  from  these  instances 
the  extemt  to  which  they  are  patronized. 

Principals  of  the  public  schools  and  teachers  gen- 
erally hold  that  the  picture  shows  exert  a  baneful 
influence  upon  the  children.  Henry  G.  Deininger, 
of  the  Wyoming  school,  says: 

"It  is  my  firm  opinion  that  most  of  the  moving 
picture  shows  a&  now  conducted,  exert  a  very  consid- 
erable baneful  influence  on  the  children.  As  a  re- 
sult of  the  performances: 

"1.  The  children  neglect  school  work  in  order  to 
attend]  them  and  also  remain  out  of  school  without 
permission. 

"2.  They  fill  the  minds  of  the  children  with  a  con- 
tent that  detracts  from  their  interest  in  the  regular 


AMUSEMENTS  105 

school  branches  and  leads  them  into  improper  direc- 
tions. 

"3.  As  many  of  the  films  are  of  scenes  and  inci- 
dents of  crime  and  misconduct,  it  is  not  strange  that 
children,  who  are  the  great  imitators,  should  b©  led 
astray  by  them. 

"4.  They  lower  the  moral  tones,  of  the  children 
by  making  them  familiar  with  scenes  that  they 
would  never  kniow  about  otherwise. 

"5.  Some  of  the  children  have  taken  part  in  these 
performances.  In  such  cases  the  above  influences 
are  even  more  pronounced." 

We  quote  also  extracts:  from  the  public  press  of 
our  city  to  show  the  influence  of  some  of  these  shows. 

"The  admission  pf  a  seven  teen -year- old  boy,  who 
had  stolen  a  watch  in  order  to  get  money  to  go  to 
moving  picture  shows  was  taken  by  Magistrate 
James  A.  Briggs,  before  whom  the  boy  was  ar- 
raigned in  Twentieth  and  Federal  streets  Police 
Station  today,  as  the  occasion  for  scoring  such 
places.  The  magistrate,  after  hearing  the  boy's  con- 
fession, said: 

"Moving  picture  and  other  cheap  shows  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  downfall  of  boys  more  than  any- 
thing else  I  know  of.  The  scenes  they  show,  not 
only  give  the  boys  a  false  view  of  life,  but  exert  such 
a  fascination  over  them  that  they  will  steal,  if  neces- 
sary, to  get  money  to  go.  There  ought  to  be  some 
law  preventing  boys  from  going  to  see  them." 

"The  boy, ,  of  —  S.  Eighteenth 

street,  was  arrested  yesterday  by  Sinex,  a  special 


106  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

policeman,  for  stealing  a  gold-  watch  belonging  to 
his  father,  which  he  pawned  for  twenty-five  cents. 
The  magistrate  held  the  boy  under  $400  bail  for 
court."  From  Philadelphia  Press,  March  30,  1909. 

Another  article  entitled,  "Girl  a  Runaway" — 
"Goes  to  Moving  Picture  Shows,  and  Buys  Candy," 
appeared  in  the  Evening  Bulletin  in  December,  1910. 

"A  desire  to  see  the  world  on  her  own  account  led 

Edna  ,  of street,  to  start  from  school 

on  Thursday  afternoon  equipped'  with  one  dollar. 
It  was  only  after  a  general  alarm  had  been  sent  out 
to  the  police  stations  of  the  city  by  her  parents  that 
she  was  located  at  Juniper  and  Market  streets,  at 
three  o'clock  yesterday  morning  by  Special  Police- 
men Sheller  and  Richter,  of  the  Fifteenth  and  Sny- 
der  avenue  Station  House.  The  little  girl  started 
as  usual  Thursday  afternoon  to  attend  the  Baldwin 
School,  Sixteenth  and  Porter  streets.  She  did  not 
return  at  the  usual  hour,  but  the  child's  mother 
thought  nothing  of  this,  because  she  was  in  the  habit 
of  helping  her  teacher  after  school.  But  when  it 
was  time  for  the  evening  meal  and  the  girl  had  not 
returned,  the  father  notified  the  police.  Thinking 
that  the  child  had  probably  been  locked  in  the  school1 
house,  the  janitor  was  hunted  up  and  the  building 
searched.  About  ten  o'clock  a  general  alarm  was 
sent  out. 

"She  told  the  policeman  who  found  her  that  she 
had  spent  her  money  in  going  to  moving  picture 
shows  and  buying  candy.  When  the  last  picture 
house  closed  she  was  afraid  to  go  home." 


AMUSEMENTS  107 

On  Monday  morning,  February  27,  1911,  the 
papers  were  full  of  an  account  of  a  boy  who  killed 
one  of  his  playmates  by  imitating  a  scene  in  a  mov- 
ing picture  show.  The  Philadelphia  Press  contained 
the  following  headlines  of  the  tragedy:  "Imitating 
Picture  Show  Kills  Boy"— "Lad  of  Ten,  Illustrating 
Wild  West,  Shoots  Playmate  Through  Heart"— 
"Nicolodeon  Blamed  for  Scenes  which  Lead  to  Fatal 
Accident."  "Sergeant  McMullen,  who  arrested 
Jimmy,  declared  that  the  Saturday  night's  exhibi- 
tion of  Wild  West  moving  pictures,  which  is  given 

by  a  neighboring  nieolodeon,  is  blamed  by  the 

family  for  inspiring  in  the  boys,  desires  to  emulate 
the  heroic  scenes  portrayed.  The  sergeant  is  also  of 
this  opinion.  He  explained  that  the  boys,  anxious 
to  put  what  they  had  seen  into  real  life,  went 
"whacks"  on  an  air  rifle.  The  rifle  was  concealed  by 
the  boys  on  Saturday  night,  and  the  shooting  done 
on  Sundiay." 

The  papers  are  filled,  from  time  to  time,  with  ac- 
counts of  the  same  character;  it  seems-  that  a  law 
should  be  enacted  forbidding  children  of  tender  age 
from  attendance  upon  a  moving  picture  show,  unless 
accompanied  by  their  parents  or  adult  caretaker.  To 
enter  upon  a  wholesale  condemnation  of  the  whole 
moving  picture  idea,  which  brings  pleasure  to  thou- 
sands of  people  daily,  is  absurd.  In  fact,  it  is  the 
only  source  of  pleasure  for  a  great  part  of  our  popu- 
lation. A  man  and  wife  and  three  children  can  have 
an  hour  or  two  of  wholesome  amusement  for  a  quar- 
ter. Young  men  and  women  in  the  "rooming  house" 


108  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

whose  incomes  are  small  and  sources  of  pleasure  lim- 
ited, because  they  are  strangers  in  a  strange  land, 
have  in  the  moving  picture  show  a  cheap  form  of 
entertainment.  For  five  cents  they  get  an  hour  of 
pleasure,  an<d  have  a  place  to  spend  the  evening. 
Some  one  has  well  said,  "When  a  man  is  in  a  mov- 
ing picture  show  he  is  kept  away  from  things  that 
are  worse,"  Men  musit  have  a  certain  amount  of 
pleasure  and  amusement.  Dr.  Patten  says :  "Amuse- 
ment is  stronger  than  vice  and  can  stifle  the  lust  of 
it.  Vice  must  first  be  fought  by  welfare,  not  by  re- 
straint; and  society  is  not  safe  until  today's  pleas- 
ures are  stronger  than  its  temptations."  It  is  said 
that  the  business  of  the  saloons  in  many  districts 
has  fallen  off  with  the  advent  of  the  moving  picture 
shows.  This  is  quite  likely.  In  many  sections  the 
saloon  was  the  only  place  to  which  a  man  with  ten 
or  fifteen  cents  to  spend  could  go.  There  was  no 
alternative.  This  is  especially  true  in  the  "rooming" 
district.  We  are  ready  to  admit  all  the  evils  of  which 
the  moving  picture  shows  are  accused.  We  believe, 
however,  that  we  shall  recognize  their  good  side  in 
the  future,  as  surely  as  we  see  the  evils  associated 
with  the  "movies"  at  present. 

The  Saloon. 

The  saloon  is  one  of  the  oldest  institutions  in 
Philadelphia.  The  old  tavern  in  the  days  of  William 
Penm  was  as  important,  in  its  way  asi  the  meeting 
house.  It  has  flourished  ever  since  under  all  condi- 
tions, changing  in  minor  details,  but  vital  enough  to 
outlive  the  fiercest  assaults  of  its  enemies.  As  a  social 


THE  SALOON  109 

institution  it  is  a  more  important  factor  in  the  life 
of  the  community  than  the  churches.  Every  institu- 
tion that  has  outlived  its  usefulness  and  that  no 
longer  meets  the  needs  of  man,  suffers  the  ever  in- 
evitable fate  of  the  unfit-annihilation.  The  saloon 
meets  certain  needs,  therefore  it  flourishes  in  this 
district  as  nowhere  else. 

Today  with  a  population  of  a  million  and  a  half, 
inhabiting  a  widespread  area  of  built-up  territory, 
the  city  has  less  than  two  thousand  saloons.  There 
was  a  time  when,  with  a  population  a.bout  one^half 
of  the  present  number,  it  had  more  than  five  thou- 
sand. That  is  to  say,  instead  of  two  thousand,  we 
should  now  have,  if  the  old  easy-going  system  of 
licensing  were  in  existence,  about  ten  thousand. 
There  are  more  saloons  in  the  "rooming"  district  in 
comparison  to  the  number  of  inhabitants  than  in 
other  sections.  In  the  whole  city  there  is  one  saloon 
to  every  eight  hundred  and  sixteen  of  the  popula- 
tion, according  to  Penn  in  the  Bulletin.  In  the  six 
wards  we  have  studied  there  are  two  hundred  and 
sixty-five  saloonsi,  or  one  to  every  three  hundred  and 
forty-six  of  the  total  population. 

Ward                                                                         Population  Saloons. 

6th  6,374  78 

10th      19,426  53 

llth      11,619  32 

12th      15,152  25 

13th      19,769  36 

14th      19,477  41 


Total    Population     91,817 

Pennsylvania  has  a  high  license  system1  of  saloon 
regulation  known  ae  the  "Brook's  High  License 
Law"  which  applies  to  the  whole  state.  When,  one 


110  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

looks  at  the  charts  of  the  Anti-saloon  League,  it 
might  be  hastily  inferred  that  the  state  is  absolutely 
destitute  of  any  wholly  effective  law  for  the  restric- 
tion and  regulation  of  the  liquor  traffic.  Of  course, 
from  the  prohibition  point  of  view,  a  law  that  sanc- 
tions the  existence  of  a  saloon  at  all  is  a  pernicious 
one.  Yet,  in  proportion  to  the  size  and  varied  char- 
acter of  the  population,  and  the  number  of  large 
cities  and  towns  in  which  most  of  it  lives,  there  is 
probably,  no  other  state  in  the  Union  which  has, 
on  the  whole,  produced  better  results  in  the  way  of 
permanent  repression  or  abatement  of  the  worst 
evils  of  the  business  than  Pennsylvania  has  under 
the  operation  of  its  license  system. 

The  action  of  the  "License  Court"  for  1910-1911 
in  Philadelphia,  affords  another  instance  of  the 
effectiveness!  of  the  system  as  applied  to  large  cities. 
On  this  occasion  the  court  refused  to  grant  a  single 
new  license,  comparatively  small  as  the  existing 
number  of  licenses  already  was.  Judges  Wilson  and 
Ferguson,  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  none  was 
necessary  as  an  additional  accommodation  to  the 
public  at  this  time.  Taking  the  city  as  a  whole, 
there  has  been  a  considerable  increase  in  the  senti- 
ment that  no  license  should  be  granted  anywhere 
unless  the  legitimate  public  need  of  it  has  first  been 
clearly  and  undoubtedly  proved. 

The  business  in  Philadelphia,  today,  is  conducted 
in  compliance  with  the  law.  It  is  remarkable  that 
the  judges,  careful  as  they  have  been  im  their  work, 


THE  SALOON  111 

have  found  only  two  or  three  cases  guilty  of  such 
violations  of  the  law,  that  necessitated  revoking  the 
licenses.  Experienced  men  who  know  what  the  city 
was,  under  the  old  regime  thirty  years  ago  and  who 
know  the  conditions  todiay  declare  that  there  never 
has  been  a  time  when  the  retail  liquor  traffic  has 
been  more  nearly  free  of  public  and  illegal  abuses 
than  it  is  at  present.  In  no  other  large  city  of  any- 
thing like  a  metropolitan  character  is  there  to  be 
found  more  order,  and  more  deference  to  public  opin- 
ion, as  well  as  more  fear  of  the  consequences  of  a 
wilful  or  flagrant  disregard  of  the  law  than  there  is 
here,  in  the  management  of  saloons.  As  regards 
night-business,  the  habitual  toleration  of  depraved 
women,  Sunday  opening,  the  sale  of  liquor  to  minors 
and  drunkards,  and  disorderly  conduct,  there  are 
very  few  that  can  be  compared  to  Philadelphia  in  its 
reduction,  to  a  minimum,  of  the  kind  of  complaints 
founded  on  such  practises1. 

In  the  days  before  the  present  license  system  was 
established,  there  were  few  restraints  imposed  upon 
the  saloon,  outside  of  the  ordinary  surveillance  of  the 
police.  They  were  powerful  in  the  direct  manage- 
ment of  both  political  parties ;  they  could  be  located 
almost  anywhere;  most  of  them  were  causes  of  com- 
plaint on  the  part  of  neighbors  who  seldom  had 
means  of  redress  even  when  the  places  were  constant 
and  notorious  nuisances.;  many  of  them  were  often 
headquarters  of  prostitution,  and  there  were  few  of 
them  in  which  a  youth  under  age  met  refusal  when 
he  wanted  liquor,  or  in  which  it  was  denied  to  a  man 


112  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

so  long  as  he  was  able  to  stand  and  pour  it  down  his 
throat. 

When  the  license  law  went  into  effect  in  1887,  a 
tremendous  blow  was  inflicted  on  these  long  chronic 
conditions..  At  least  three- fourths,  of  all  the  saloons 
were  wiped  out,  and  in  the  next  two  or  three  years 
more  were  closed,  until  at  one  time  there  were  less 
than  twelve  hundred  left.  Judge  Wilson,  still  on  the 
bench,  together  with  Judge  Bregy,  Judge  Fell,  now 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  Jamesi  Gay  Gordon, 
then  a  judge,  all  of  whom  sat  together  for  three  or 
four  years  in  handling  the  license  power,  constituted1 
the  tribunal  which  introduced'  the  reform.  The^ 
Bulletin  of  March  6th,  1911,  makes  this-  statement 
on  its  editorial  page:  "The  proportion  of  saloons 
to  the  entire  city,  about  one  to  more  than  eight 
hundred,  is  strikingly  small  when  the  area  of  the 
city  is  considered,  and  while  the  Prohibitionists  and 
Local  Optionists  demand  further  changes  to  the  end 
either  of  extinction  or  of  a  still  greater  restriction, 
they  can  point  to  no  other  great  city  where  the 
saloon  keepers  are  more  orderly  and'  law  abiding  and 
where  common  sense  has  succeeded  in  striking  a 
higher  average  in  doing  what  is  reasonable  or  prac- 
ticable toward  enforcing  decency  and  a  regard  for 
both  public  and  private  rights." 

That  the  saloon  meets  a  need  is  generally  recog- 
nized by  the  average  man.  Nor  is  the  saloon  neces- 
sarily, the  exponent  of  crime  and  dirunkenness.  We' 
have  walked  through  the  district  at  various  hours 
of  the  day  and  night  and,  rarely,  have  we  met  a 


THE   SALOON  113 

drunken  man.  This  does  not  mean  that  hundreds 
had  not  partaken  more  freely  than  was  for  their  good 
but  it '  does  mean  that  very  few  gave  evidence  of 
intoxication  by  visible  lack  of  control.  Of  course, 
it  is  true  that  drunkenness  and  wickedness 
are  incidental  to  the  saloon  as  an  institution. 
But  this  same  drunkenness  and  wickedness1  would 
exist  if  the  saloon  were  legislated1  out  of  existence.1 
Would  the  extinction  of  the  saloon,  abolish  gambling 
or  mitigate  the  social  evil  ?  Not  in  the  least.  That 
these  evils  are  found  in  the  same  district  as  the 
saloon  is  not  a  proof  of  the  fact  that  they  are  the 
product  of  the  saloon  or  that  there  is,  necessarily  a 
connection  between  them. 

If  then,  these  saloons  do  not  personify  drunken- 
ness andi  crime,  they  must  exist  because  of  some 
more  worthy  and  normal  motive,  and  must  supply 
some  characteristic  need.  What  do  you  see  inside 
of  a  saloon  ?  Generally  a  well-behaved  group  of  men 
enjoying  social  intercourse,  reading  the  newspapers, 
smoking  cigars  and  drinking  a  glass  of  beer.  Drink- ' 
ing  is  not  the  principal  thing.  The  saloon  is  the 
club  of  the  workingmani,  in  which  he  finds  comfort, 
cheer,  companionship  and  where  he  may  engage  in 
social  intercourse  with  his  equals.  In  winter  time 
the  saloon'  is  warm,  and  in  summer  it  is  cool.  By 
day  and  night  it  is  brightly  lighted,  is  generally  kept 
clean  and  is  always  cheerful.  The  home  surround- 
ings of  the  dweller  in  "furnished  rooms  for  house- 
keeping" are  very  distressing,  and  cannot  satisfy 
the  social  cravings  of  the  ordinary  man.  There  are 


114  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

no  workingmen's  clubs  which  he  can  attend.  His 
food  at  home  is  poorly  cooked.  At  the  saloon  he  can 
have  a  good  dish  of  soup,  by  purchasing  a  glass  of 
beer  for  five  cents.  Often  there  is  an  egg,  a  clam,  a 
fried  oyster,  or  reed-bird  given  free  with  every  drink. 
Sometimes  a  red-hot  "frankfurter"  or  a  hot  roast 
beef  sandwich  is  given  with  a  single;  glass  of  beer. 
There  are  very  few  saloons  in  this  district  that  do 
not  display  a  sign  informing  the  passerby  that  cold 
lunch  is  served  all  day.  For  a  very  small  price  a 
hungry  man  can  get  as  much  as  he  cares*  to  eat  or 
drink.  As  a  rule  the  food  is  good.  It  is  well-cooked 
and  palatable.  There  is  one  saloon  in1  this  district 
that  expends  over  $100.00  weekly  on  lunch  which  is 
served  free  to  its  patrons.. 

The  wife  of  the  proprietor  does  the  purchasing 
of  all  the  meats  and  buys  only  the  very  best.  Chick- 
ens from  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania,  are  pur- 
chased for  the  pot-pie  which  is  served  every  Satur- 
day night.  That  air  of  poverty  which  unfailingly1 
pervades  the  cheap  restaurants  and  finds  its  expres- 
sion in  cheap  and  dirty  table  linen,  is  wanting  in  the 
saloon.  Instead,  polished  oak  or  mission  tables  are 
used,  and  an  abundance  of  food  served^  while  the 
cheap  restaurant  would  have  done  its  best  to  drive 
home  the  consciousness  of  poverty.  The  saloon 
furnishes  a  lavatory  for  all  comers.  This  is  a  bless- 
ing  in  a  large  city. 

The  strong  feature  of  the  saloon  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  it  is  the  only  social  institution  that  is  always 
open  and  accessible.  It  is  the  only  meeting-ground 


THE  SALOON  115 

for  neighbors  and  equals ;  it  is  the  only  place  where 
a  man  can  ©pend  an  hour  in  the  company  of  his  kind. 
The  saloon  keeper  himself  is  a  social  attraction.  He 
learns  much  in  his  business.  He  knows  the  beet 
stories.  He  is  the  first  to  hear  of  the  latest  political 
news  in  the  ward.  The  power  he  derives  from  a  wide 
circle  of  friends  commands  respect.  The  saloon 
keeper  isi  charitable.  Does  a  family  in  the  neighbor- 
hood need  coal  or  food?  The  saloon  keeper  is  ready 
to  contribute  his  share.  Is  a  man  out  of  a  job,  the 
saloon  keeper  very  likely  can  find  him  a  position. 
The  saloon,  therefore,  becomes  a  centre  of  informa- 
tion for  a  large  group  of  men,  and  it  stand®  for  social 
opportunity.  The  man  in  the  "rooming  house"  pa- 
tronizes the  saloon,  because  of  lack  of  social  oppor- 
tunity elsewhere,  which,  of  course,  the  unmarried 
man  feels  more  commonly.  It  is  the  only  place  the 
girl  "roomer"  can  meet  her  young  man  and  spend  a 
short  time  together.  The  back  room  of  a  saloon  is 
more  appropriate  to  entertain  a  gentleman  friend 
than,  one's  bed-room. 

Let  us  not  be  too  hard  on  the  salo^^mtil  we  have 
an  institution  to  take  its  place,  and  one  which  will 
meet  the  needs  of  man  for  social  intercourse.  The 
natural  and  rightful  competitor  of  the  saloon  is  the 
home.  But  before  home-life  begins  houses!  should 
be  provided  with  the  elementary  conditions  of  sani- 
tation, privacy,  and  space.  Yet  these  are  denied'  to 
thousands  of  working  men  and  womeni  in  our  city, 
who  seek  in  the  saloon  what  they  should  find  in  the 
home. 


116  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

Booze  Parties. 

The  "Booze  Party"  is  a  favorite  pastime  for  the 
young  men  and  women  in  the  "rooming"  section. 
These  parties  are  generally  held  on  Sunday  evening 
andi  are  participated  in  by  a  number  of  young  people 
of  both  sexes*,  who  are  congenial.  There  are  social 
distinctions  manifested  in  the  "Booze  Parties"  as 
well  as  in  other  things.  Clerks  and  salesgirls;  in 
department  stores  will  not  attend  a  "party"  in  com- 
pany with  girls  who  work  in  a  laundry  or  with 
operators  in  a  factory.  Each  girl  takes  her  own 
especial  gentleman  friend  to  this  party.  Sometimes 
the  special  set  have  a  loose  form  of  organization 
with  a  president  and  treasurer.  We  know  of  the 
following  organizations:  "The  Red  Rose  Social," 
"The  Sunday  Night  Club,"  "The  Bubble  Organiza- 
tion," "The  Party-On,"  "Twice  a  Month,"  the  "Not 
Too  Often  Club"  and  the  "Just  One  More  Organiza- 
tion." 

These  parties  are  usually  held  in  the  dining-room 
and  kitchen  of  some  "rooming  house,"  where  a 
tolerant  landlady  grants  the  privilege  of  holding  the 
party  for  the  sake  of  participating  in  the  booze  and 
getting  all  that  is  left  after  the  party.  Beer  is 
generally  the  only  "booze"  furnished.  This  iei  pur- 
chased from  the  numerous  wholesalers  who  make  a 
specialty  of  supplying  the  district,  and  the  cost  of 
the  beer  ie  $1.00  a  box.  Care  is  exercised  by  the 
drivers  of  these  beer-wagons  that  none  is  sold  to 
houses  of  ill-repute  or  speak-easies,  since  the  courts 


BOOZE  PARTIES  117 

have  threatened  to  take  the  license  of  those  who  fur- 
nish liquor  to  these  resorts.  The  "booze"  is  paid 
for  by  an  assessment  levied  upon  the  members  of 
the  organization. 

On  the  whole  these  parties  are  conducted  quietly, 
and  surely  no  one  could  get  in  unless  he  were  a 
member  of  the  organization  or  accompanied  a  mem- 
ber on  invitation.  If  all  the  members'  of  the  social 
are  lodgers  at  the  places  where  the  party  is  held  or  if 
the  lodgers  are  all  out,  popular  songs  are  sung  and 
the  party  becomes,  quite  hilarious-,  otherwise  it  is 
qu(8^  and  orderly.  However,  there  are  occasions 
when  some  of  these  parties  degenerate  into  the  most 
horrible  orgies.  When  the  "booze"  flows'  freely  and 
most  of  the  members  get  a  "party  on,"  there  ie  no 
telling  what  may  be  proposed.  Where  there  are 
jealous  members1  of  the  party  this  laxity  of  morals 
and  swapping  of  girls  or  oftentimes  wives,  for  the 
evening,  leads  to  recriminations,  hatred),  strife,  as- 
saults, and  on  at  least  two  specific  occasions  that  have 
come  to  our  notice,  it  has  been  the  cause  for  divorce. 

At  the  basis  of  these  "booze  parties"  is  the  innate 
longing  of  the  soul  for  companionship  and  sociabil- 
ity. This*  is  true,  especially,  of  the  working  girl. 
In  the  daily  round  of  toil  she  has  no  opportunity  to 
develop  these  qualities.  She  who  lives,  moves  and 
has  her  being  in  the  sympathy  of  others',  finds  no 
place  during  a  whole  week  for  the  cultivation  of  her 
natural  qualifications.  The  "booze  party"  on  Sun- 
day night  furnishes,  the  stimulus  and  opportunity1 
for  the  development  of  the  social  side  of  her  nature. 


118  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

No  wonder  that  she  devotes  the  whole  day,  or  at 
leasit,  the  greater  part  of  it  to  her  person  that  she 
may  attract  the  opposite  sex  at  the  party.  Her  per- 
son is  made  attractive  at  the  expense  of  her  health 
of  body  as  well  as»  of  mind.  There  are  those  who 
have  nothing  but  the  severest  condemnation  for  this 
practice  but  are  willing  to  concede  that  the  more 
affluent  members  of  society  have  a  perfect  right  to 
their  country-clubs,  social  organizations,  or  parties 
where  they  may  regale  themselves  at  the  punch-bowl 
or  quaff  the  sparkling  champagne.  Until  we  give 
the  less  fortunate  ones  a  better  place  for  the  display 
of  their  exuberant  spirits  and  for  the  exercise  of 
those  qualities:  of  sociability  and  fraternity  we 
should  not  be  the  first  ones  to  cast  a  stone  at  them. 

In  the  Evening  Bulletin  of  Monday,  February 
llth,  1911,  we  found  the  following  account  of  a 
"booze  party."  "CROWD  MAULED  POLICE- 
MAN"— "BLUE-COAT  WHO  TRIED  TO 
BREAK  UP  A  STREET  FIGHT  ATTACKED 
BY  MEN  AND  WOMEN." 

Attacked  by  about  two  score  men  and  women  at 
the  corner  of  Twelfth  and  Vine  streets,  at  six  o'clock 
this  morning,  Cooper,  a  policeman  of  the  Tenth  and 
Buttonwood  Station,  was  badly  beaten,  and  knocked 
unconscious!.  Although  suffering  from  severe  bruises 
and  lacerations  of  the  face,  head  and  body,  he  de- 
clined medical  attention  and  grimly  declared  he 
would  remain  on  duty  in  hope  of  capturing  some  of 
his  assailants,  all  of  whom  escaped1  at  the  time. 

Cooper  was  at  the  corner  of  Eleventh  and  Vine 


BOOZE  PARTIES  119 

streets,  at  the  time,  when  his  attention  was  attracted 
by  what  seemed  to  be  a  general  street  row  a  block 
away,  at  Twelfth  street.  He  ran  in  the  direction  of 
the  moise  and  was  amazed  to  find  "between  thirty 
and  fifty  men  and  women,"  as  he  described  the 
crowd  engaged  in  a  free  for  all  fight. 

As  the  policeman  rushed1  up  to  the  scene  he  &aw 
a  man  in  the  crowd  point  a,  revolver  at  one  of  the 
women  and,  fearing  that  murder  was  about  to  be 
committed,  Cooper  did  not  stop  to  call  for  help,  but 
plunged  into  the  melee  with  his  club.  He  managed 
to  reach  the  man  with  the  revolver  and  seized  it 
before  it  was  discharged.  Instantly  the  crowd  gave 
up  its  own,  quarrels  and  turned  on  the  blue-coat. 
Despite  the  free  use  of  his  club  he  was-  soon  knocked 
to  the  ertreet  and  kicked  and  beaten  into  insensi- 
bility, the  women  being  as  active  aggressors  as  the 
meni,  according  to  the  policeman. 

Some  time  later  he  recovered  consciousness  and 
managed  to  get  to  a  call  box,  whence  he  telephoned 
to  the  station  for  help.  A  heavy  detail  of  police  re- 
sponded, but  no  trace  of  the  assailants  could  be 
found.  The  police  believe  that  the  crowd  was  an 
overflow  from  a  "booze  party"  in  the  neighborhood, 
asi  Cooper  declared  that;  most  of  them  were  intoxi- 
cated. 

Agencies  for  Uplift  in  the  District. 

Various  educational  advantageei  are  within,  the 
reach  of  the  roomer,  if  he  only  knew  more  about 
them.  The  Public  Library  at  Seventeenth  and 
Spring  Garden  streets  is  easily  accessible  from  the 


120  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

district.  A  large  free  library  is  maintained]  by  the 
Spring  Garden  Institute  at  Broad  and  Spring  Gar- 
den streets.  Many  of  its  readier  are  said  to  be 
roomers.  On  a  winter  evening  the  large  reading- 
rooms  are  crowded'  and  every  pa,per  and  magazine 
is  in  use.  This  library  is  in.  the  district,  is  easily 
accessible,  is  above  ground,  and  has  been  increasing 
rapidly  in  usefulness  the  past  two  years.,  but  there 
should  be  a  number  of  libraries  or  reading-rooms 
scattered1  through  the  district,  With  social  inter-' 
course  hampered  in  so  many  ways,  spare  time  even- 
ings and  Sundays  must  hang  heavily  upon  the 
lodger.  He  does  not  go  to  church  and  his  chief 
literary  resource  is  the  Sunday  newspaper.  Whether 
that  satisfies  the  cravings  of  his  soul  after  enlight- 
enment is  hard  to  say.  He  generally  has^  the  evening 
paper  but  few  books.  In  the  many  rooms  the  writer 
has  seen  throughout  the  district,  books  and  maga- 
zines were  the  exceptions.  The  lodger  must  move 
frequently.  He  lives  in  his  trunk.  Books  are  an 
impediment.  A  free  reading-room,  comfort-able, 
lighted  and  well-heated  wouH  be  a  blessing. 

Another  advantage  in  the  neighborhood,  available 
for  lodgers  is  the  Central  Evening  High  School 
held  in  the  building  of  the  Boy'si  Central  High,  at 
Broad  and  Green  streets.  The  courses  of  study  com- 
prise all  the  studies  of  the  day  high  school,  and  of 
the  practical  business  college.  The  school  is  open 
to  all  persons  living  in  Philadelphia  over  sixteen 
years  of  age.  A  considerable  share  of  its  pupils  are 
said  to  be  boarders  and  roomers.  One  of  the  teach- 


AGENCIES  FOR  UPLIFT  121 

ers  made  investigations  in  hie  classes'  to  determine 
the  proportion  of  "roomers"  and  "boarders."  He 
found  that  sixty  per  cent  were  either  boarding  or 
rooming  in  the  city  and  the  remaining  forty- per 
cent  lived  in,  their  own  homes.  Of  these  sixty  per 
cent,  about  two-thirds  were  boarders.  His  conclu- 
sion was  that  a  boarder  is  more  likely  to  attend  night 
school  than  a  roomer.  This  investigation  was  only 
confined  to  three  classes  and  is>  not  of  much  value. 
Four  settlement  houses,  with  alarge  staff  of  workers, 
are  gradually  seeking  to  extend  various  social  and 
educational  advantages  to  the  rooming  population. 
These  settlement  houses,  are  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Settlement  on  Vine  street  near  Sixth,  in  charge  of 
deaconesses  of  the  M.  E.  Church.  Several  houses 
that  have  been  purchased;,  for  various>  branches-  of 
this  work,  are  being  remodelled  and  improved.  The 
North  House  is  conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Society  of  Friends  and  is  situated  at  451  N.  Mar- 
shall street.  The  Luther  Settlement  House  is  situ- 
ated at  Fourth  and  Callowhill  streets.  The  Settle- 
ment House  of  the  Second  Prasbyterian  Church  is 
situated  at  613  N.  Eighth  street..  In  each  of  these 
settlements  there  are  from  three  to  five  resident 
workers  and  a  dozen  or  more  associate  workers  who 
come  from  other  sections  of  the  city  and  give  their 
time  and  talents  to  the  uplift  of  men.  In,  the 
eleventh  annual  report  of  the  settlement  house, 
Eighth  and  Green  streets,  the  following  reference  is 
made  to  neighborhood  conditions.  "The  Second 
Presbyterian  Church  Settlement  i&  located  very  near 


122  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

to  the  Tenderloin  district.  What  was.  once  a  good 
residence  neighborhood  i©  now  almost  wholly  given 
over  to  'furnished  room'  houses,  where  moral  condi- 
tion© are  deplorable  and  anything  like  normal  life 
is  impossible.  Added  to  this  aue  the  questionable 
amusements  offered  in  the  cheap  theatres  and  mov- 
ing-picture shows,  which  abound  on  every  hand." 
This1  settlement  house  is  one  of  the  most  effective  in 
the  district.  A  well  equipped  playground  is  one  of 
its  characteristic  features.  Nearly  all  the  childiren 
come  from  "rooming"  houses.  Arrangements  are 
now  being  made  to  reach  the  young  men  and  women 
in  the  "rooming"  house©.  Wholesome  amusements 
will  be  provided  for  them  a©  well  as  for  the  boys 
and  girls.. 

The  question  is  frequently  raised  whether  the 
settlement  is  "making  good."  Every  settlement  in 
the  district  is  doing  effective  work.  It©  first  duty  is 
toward  the  neglected  childhood  of  the  community. 
Henry  G.  Deininger,  Principal  of  the  Wyoming 
Combined  Primary  and  Grammar  School,  says: 
"The  settlement  house  exerts-  a,  marked  influence  on 
the  boysi  and  girls,  in  our  school.  Discipline  is  a 
comparatively  easy  matter  with  the  boys  and  girls 
after  the  settlement  has  influenced  their  lives." 

Rev.  Ambrose  Herring  took  charge  of  the  Luther 
Settlement  House,  October  1st,  1910.  In  March, 
1911,  he  submitted  the  following  report  of  the  work 
under  his  direction.  "The  institutional  work  is.  at 
present  centered  in  three  buildings.  The  Penny 
Savings  Bank  which  is  conducted1  from  the  office 


AGENCIES  FOR   UPLIFT  123 

experienced  a  'rush'  before  the  holidays'  because  the 
young  people  drew  their  savings  to  buy  that  which, 
in  many  cases,  proved  to  be  their  first  Christmas 
gifts.  There  are  at  present  eighty-two  depositors. 
The  settlement  knows  that  poverty  is  as  much  a 
problem  of  saving  as  of  income  and  the  bank  was 
established  to  encourage  small  savings. 

"The  settlement  exists  to  do  necessary  work  which 
makes  for  better  social  and  religious  life  for  all  the 
people  in  the  community  in  which  it  is  located.  The 
'Cobley  Alley  Gang'  reputed  to  be  the  worst  boy's 
gang  in  the  district,  constituted  our  first  group  of 
boysi  and  their  sisters  were  our  first  girls.  The 
captain  of  the  gang  came  to  inquire  in  behalf  of 
'his  gang'  saying  that,  ''de  kids  hadint  no  place  to  go 
nowhere  in  the  evenings  but  the  alley  and  de  street 
corner,  and  that  the  corner  wasfent  no  good  'cause 
de«  cop  was  always  hanging  around  to  chase  you  and 
that  most  of  de  kids  only  had  five  cents  a  week  for 
the  "movies,"  J 

"On  October  16th,  1910,  the  Cobley  Alley  Gang 
entered  upon  a  new  epoch  in  its  long  and)  active  his- 
tory; a  history  which  bristles  with  such  deeds  of 
heroism,  daring  and  adventure  as  might  have  made 
the  pirates  of  old  turn  green  with  envy.  We  are 
told  that  no  pastor  was  safe  in  making  calls  in 
Cobley  Alley  while  the  'gang'  was  around,  and  they 
were  everywhere  and  always  on  the  job.  Their  code 
of  signals  kept  the  policemen  guessing  and  men,  with 
silk  hate  kept  their  eyes  open  and  stepped  lively. 
The  Cobley  Alley  boys  are  splendid  fellows.  They 


124  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

have  red  blood  and  are  heroic  fighters  but  they  have 
a  wrong  conception  as  to  what  constitutes  true 
heroism  and  they  need  to  apply  their  fighting  quali- 
ties to  better  issues..  The  settlement  gives  them  a 
chance  and  shows  them  how.  The  'Cobley  Alley' 
gang  is  all  right.  The  trouble  lies  in  its  wrong  ideals 
which  the  grown  folks  have  given  them.  'They  can 
lick  any  bunch  that  comes  down  the  pike.'  'They 
are  the  worst  gang  around ;'  everybody  says  so  from 
the  minister  and  judge  down  to  the  policeman  and 
their  own  fathers,  and  they  feel  that  they  must  make 
good  or  lose  their  reputation. 

"The  settlement  does  not  claim  to  have  accom- 
plished much  definite  work  with  these  boys,  for  the 
development  of  years  cannot  be  undone  in  a  few 
months',  but  it  has  taken  the  place  of  the  street  and 
the  alley,  and  has  become  their  club-home  and  ad- 
viser. When  these  boys  come  to  the  Settlement  now, 
they  are  better  dressed  and  have  cleaner  hands  and 
faces  than  they  had  at  first.  Some  day  they  will  see 
the  relation  between  clean  hands  and  clean  character 
and  orderly  lives." 

It  is  the  uniform  testimony  of  those  who  know  that 
in  its  contact  with  people  the  Settlement  is  making 
progress.  The  policeman  on  the  beat  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  a  Settlement  House  came  into  the  gym- 
nasium recently  to  tell  the  workers  that  since  the 
Settlement  is  here  he  has  much  less  trouble,  and 
that  all  is1  quiet.  A  business  man.,  upon  being  ap- 
proached for  financial  aid  for  Settlement  work,  filled 
out  a  check  for  $10,  saying,  "I  know  of  your  work. 


AGENCIES  FOR  UPLIFT  125 

I  hear  about  it  constantly.  It  is  the  kind  of  Chris- 
tianity I  believe  in." 

Other  agencies  working  along  the  lines  of  general 
uplift  are  the  Salvation  Army,  and  the  Volunteers 
of  America.  They  have  worked]  here  for  years,  and 
so  far  as  the  external  character  of  the  neighborhood 
is  concerned,  we  fail  to  notice  any  improvement.  No 
doubt  some  good  is  accomplished  by  these  agencies, 
but  not  nearly  so  much  as  is  usually  claimed1  by 
their  enthusiastic  supporters  and  admirers.  The 
Volunteers  of  America  are  trying  to  do  some  con- 
structive work  in  the  Tenderloin.  They  have  a 
worker  visiting  houses  of  ill-fame,  and  the  dens  of 
Chinatown,  and  more  than  one  girl  has  been  res- 
cued from  a  life  of  sh;ame  and  sent  home.  Work 
of  this  kind  is  slow  and1  has  many  discouraging  fea- 
tures. There  are  a  number  of  self-conistitutedi  mis- 
s-ions and  missionaries  in  the  district  of  doubtful 
value. 

The  Galilee  Mission  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  deserves  especial  mention,  It  is  situated 
on  the  corner  of  Vine  and  Darien  streets,  in  the 
heart  of  Philadelphia's  Tenderloin,  and  it  is  said  to  be 
the  best  equipped;  rescue  mission  in  the  country. 
Goodi  meals  are  served  in  the  dining  room1  for  five 
cents,  the  average  number  supplied  being  over  three 
hundred  a  day;  beds  are  provided  in  four  large,  well- 
lighted  dormitories,  with  the  use  of  shower  baths, 
at  ten  cents  a  night,  the  hundred1  and  sixty-eight 
beds  being  occupied!  nearly  every  night.  Men  who 
sleep  in  the  mission  have  the  use  of  a  fine  and  well- 


126  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

equipped  reading  room  and  a  smoking  room  free, 
andl  also  the  benefit  of  a  well -equipped  laundry  and 
bath  for  five  cents,  other  men  being  charged  ten 
cents..  In  order  to  help  men-  to  help  themselves, 
there  is  an  industrial  department,  where  they  can 
earn  their  meals,  and  bed  and  use  of  the  laundry. 
Services  are  held  nightly  by  the  Rev.  J.  J.  D.  Hall, 
the  Superintendent  of  the  Mission.  We  doubt  the 
lasting  influence  of  the  great  number  of  conversions 
reported!  by  these  agencies.  It  would  make  an  in- 
teresting study  to  follow  up  the  so-called  converts 
and)  determine  what  proportion  again  lapse  into 
their  former  life. 

Prostitution  and   Crime   in   the   District. 

No  attempt  to  picture  the  rooming  house  would 
be  even  approximately  accurate  without  some  refer- 
ence to  prostitution.  It  bears:  the  stamp  of  modern 
social  and  industrial  conditions.  The  hosts  of  un- 
married) men  of  the  great  industrial  city  living  in 
the  rooming  house  represent  the  masculine  factor; 
the  feminine  factor  consists  of  girlsi  and  women 
from  the  midst  of  the  social  organism1  who  have 
been  impelled  by  circumstances  to  make  a  quasi- 
voluntary  choice  of  prostitution  as  a  means  of  live- 
lihood. Speaking  generally,  we  have  too  large  a 
number  of  prostitutes  in  the  city.  Some  volun- 
tarily choose  a  life  of  shame  from  innate  perversity. 
Others  are  victims  of  force  or  fraud;  still  others, 
of  adverse  social  and  economic  conditions. 

It  is  an  old  and  trite  saying,  that  the  real  cause 
of  prostitution  is  the  male  factor.  A  community, 


PROSTITUTION  AND  CRIME  127 

it  is  said,  will  have  as  much  vice  as  it  will  pay  for. 
"Demand  will  create  a  supply."  Thisi  idea  contains 
an  element  of  truth.  Under  existing  conditions 
many  women  are  attracted,  not  forced  into  prosti- 
tution. The  greater  the  earnings  of  the  prostitute, 
the  richer  her  attire,  and  the  more  luxurious  her 
mode  of  life,  the  stronger  is  the  attraction  for  those 
who  are  on  the  borderland  of  vice  and  virtue.  Con- 
sequently, any  account  of  prostitution  may  proper- 
ly begin  with  a  consideration  of  the  general  reasons 
that  are  responsible  for  an  extensive  "demand." 

The  problem  of  prostitution  is  closely  connected 
with  that  of  the  movement  of  population  towards 
the  city.  A  great  part  of  the  population  of  a  mod- 
ern city  consists  of  young  mem  who  have  drifted 
hither  from  the  country  and  email  towns,  attracted 
by  the  greater  opportunities  of  rising  in  social  life 
and  by  the  greater  degree  of  personal  comfort  that 
the  city  offers.  As  a  rule,  the  income  a  young  man 
earns,  while  sufficient  to  procure  for  himself  the  ne- 
cessities of  life  and,  at  times,  some  luxuries,  does 
not  suffice  for  founding  a  family.  As  his  income 
increases,  his  standard  of  personal  comfort  rises; 
accordingly,  he  postpones  marriage  until  a  date  in 
the  indefinite  future,  or  abandons*  expectation  of  it 
altogether.  His  interests  centre  almost  wholly  in 
himself.  He  is  responsible  only  to  himself  and  the 
pleasure  he  can  obtain  becomes  the  chief  end  of  his 
life.  It  is  not  unnatural,  then,  that  the  strongest 
impulse  of  man  should  find  expression  in  the  only 
way  open — indulgence  in  vice.  The  rooming  house 


128  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

district  is  filled1  with  places  where  he  may  have  his 
desires  gratified.  The  Evening  Item  of  March  11, 
1911,  had  forty-one  ads.  in  the  "Personals"  giving 
the  locations  of  "massage  parlors,"  which  are  noth- 
ing more  nor  lese  than  houses  of  prostitution. 
"Mass.  Young  Operators",  "Mass.  Bath,  Two  New 
Attendants",  "Mass.  New  Young  Expert",  "Mass. 
Entirely  New",  "Mass.  Magnetic  Treatment", 
"Mass.  Satisfaction",  "Mass.  Bath,  New  Nurse", 
"Mass.  Ba>th,  New  French  Nurse" — are  some  of  the 
ads.  Most  of  the  addresses  given  are  in  the  district 
under  consi deration.  Besides  the  "massage  parlors" 
there  are  a  number  of  well-known  houses1  of  ill-fame 
in  the  district.  They  have  existed  for  years-.  Houses 
of  assignation  are  very  common  in  this  district, 
where  men  and1  women  rent  a  room  temporarily. 
Such  houses  are  found  on  Cherry  street  between 
Twelfth  and  Broad.  A  stranger  walking  from 
Twelfth  to  Broad  street  on  Cherry  after  eight  in 
the  evening  is  likely  to  be  accosted  by  a  score  of 
young  girls  walking  the  streets  for  purposes  of  pros- 
titution. It  is  so  patent  that  there  is  a  strong  sus- 
picion that  the  whole  system  is  organized',  controlled 
and  protected  by  powerful  interests. 

Prostitution  appears  under  different  guises.  There 
are  a  considerable  number  of  regular  houses  of  pros- 
titution. Wood  street  is  filled  with  dens  of  the 
vilest  character.  Women  call  to  passers-by  on  the 
street  and  invite  them  in,  On  a  Sunday  afternoon 
in  September,  1910,  the  writer  passed  down  Wood 
street  and  saw  the  Salvation  Army  hold!  services 


PROSTITUTION  AND  CRIME  129 

in  the  centre  of  the  street.  While  the  members  of 
the  Army  were  kneeling  in  the  street  in  prayer,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  houses  were  calling  out  and1  solic- 
iting some  of  the  bystanders  and  using  some  of  the 
vilest  language.  Darien  street  from  Vine  to  But- 
tonwood  is  filled  with  houses  of  prostitution  of  the 
vilest  character.  Other  such  houses  are  found  in 
the  mictet  of  the  furnished  room  district.  The  best 
of  these  houses  are  ostensibly  elegant  and  very  quiet 
residences.  They  are  almost  absolutely  quiet  dur- 
ing the  day,  and  even  at  night  they  are  careful  not 
to  invite  police  surveillance  by  noise  or  by  lighted 
windows.  They  are  also  very  careful  not  to  incur 
the  ill-will  of  their  neighbors.  The  existence  of  a' 
notorious  house  of  prostitution  a  few  doors  removed 
from  a  certain  "Settlement  House"  in  the  district 
seemed  to  annoy  the  resident  workers-  of  the  Set- 
tlement. They  determined  on  its  removal.  But  it 
was  not  as  easy  a  matter  as  they  had  supposed.  The 
police  were  very  willing  to  do  all  they  could,  but 
they  had  to  be  supplied  with  evidence.  It  is  pretty 
hard  to  get  evidence  in  cases  of  this  kind.  The 
business  men  and  little  shop-keepers  in  the  neigh- 
borhood did  not  want  "this  good  woman  disturbed." 
Not  a  parent  in  the  neighborhood  seemed  desirous 
of  having  anything  done  in  the  matter.  The  house 
is  still  a  fixed  institution  in  the  district. 

Another  type  of '  disreputable  house  is  conducted 
under  the  guise  of  a  "rooming  house"  or  an  apart- 
ment house.  It  is  very  likely  to  have  ita  street 
number  posted  in  large  letters  on  the  front  door, 


130  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

and  perhaps  in  the  window.  Perhaps  a  few  men 
room  here  as  a  blind,  but  primarily  it  is  a  house  of 
prostitution  and  conducted  for  that  purpose.  These 
houses^  advertise  in  .the  Item  and  in,  the  Sunday 
Transcript :  "Furnished  Rooms  with  Privileges,"  or 
"Furnished  Rooms  for  Transients." 

A  variant  of  this'  type  is  that  in  which  the  land- 
lady is  not  directly  engaged  in  this  traffic,  but 
where,  with  her  knowledge,  live  women  of  loose 
character  who  bring  men  to  their  rooms  whenever 
they  please.  Rents  in  such  houses  are  high.  A 
young  medical  student,  of  great  moral  probity,  de- 
clared that  he  changed  "rooming  houses"  a  num- 
ber of  times  because  he  found  a  woman  of  loose 
character  living  in-  almos»t  every  house,  occupying 
rooms  there,  and  often  being  introduced  to  the  gen- 
tlemen "'roomers"  for  the  purpose  of  plying  her  trade 
among  them. 

In  houses  of  this  type  the  landlady  knowsi  of  the 
irregular  practices.  If  she  allows  them  she  can 
make  some  money  out  of  her  house.  The  economic 
struggle  she  must  make — the  necessity  of  getting 
as  great  returns  from  her  house  as  possible — results 
in  a  gradual  relaxation  of  her  moral  standards,  at 
least  in  so  far  as>  they  are  applied  to  practise.  Be- 
fore  she  knows  it  the  strictest  and  most  prudish 
woman  has  dropped  into  the  easy-going  habit  of  not 
knowing  too  much  about  her  roomers. 

Prostitution  may  go  on  in  a  house  without  the 
knowledge  of  the  landlady.  Nearly  every  rooming1 
house  keeper  says  she  keeps  only  "nice"  people^  It 


PROSTITUTION  AND  CRIME  131 

is  impossible  for  her  to  know  what  goes  on  in  the 
rooms  of  her  house.  The  proximity  of  the  rooms 
of  men  and  women,  the  fact  that  they  are  under 
rooming  house  etiquette  and  have  a  perfect  right 
to  visit  one  another's1  rooms;,  and  the  quietness  with 
which  people  can  come  in  and  out,  render  immoral 
practices  not  only  easy,  but  almost  a  matter  of  cer- 
tainty. There  are  many  young  women,  working  in 
department  stores  at  less  than  living  wages,  whose 
scant  earnings  are  supplemented  by  a  gentleman 
"friend"  who  demands  certain  "privileges";  these 
girls  often  form  temporary  unions  with  men  and 
live  together  as>  man  and  wife.  A  merchant  in  the 
district  told  me  of  an  attractive  young  woman  who 
dealt  with  him  for  a  year  or  more.  At  times  she 
asked!  for  credit  to  the  extent  of  one  or  two  dlollarsi, 
which  he  granted  her  without  knowing  her  name. 
She  came  in  hurriedly  one  evening  in  December, 
1909,  and  asked  whether  her  account  was  settled 
and  said,  "I  have  thrown  my  old  man  over  and  in-' 
tend  to  leave  him."  In  November,  1911,  she  came 
into  his  store  and  he  greeted  her,  and'  asked  her 
whether  she  had  returned  to  the  neighborhood  to 
live,  to  which  she  replied,  "Yes,  I  have  lived  a  re- 
spectable married  life  with  three  men  since  I  left 
the  Green  street  house;  two  I  threw  over  and  the 
last  one  'threw  me'  over.  I  am  back  at  the  old  place 
again,  and  no  doubt  the  old  man  will  take  me  in 
again."  After  a  girl  has  lived  with  a  man  and  has 
been  "thrown  over"  it  is  much  easier  for  her  to  cast 
aside  her  pride  and  self-respect  and  go  and  live 


132  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

with  other  men,  whence  the  way  to  the  life  of  the 
avowed  prostitute  is  wide  open.  And  after  a  man 
has  thus,  treated  one  girl,  it  is  easy  for  him  to  con- 
tinue to  prostitute  himself  and  leave  a.  trail  of  ruin- 
ed lives  behind  him.  George  Picot  in  Seances  et 
Travaux  de  FAcademie  dee  Siences  Morales  et  Poli- 
tiques,  Vol.  53,  p.  681,  states  that  "Ninety  per  cent, 
of  the  women  prostitutes  of  Paris  are  recruited 
from  the  lodging  house  class."  It  is  difficult  to  come 
to  definite  conclusions'  in  matterst  of  this  kind- 
There  are  a  number  of  mistresses  or  "kept" 
womeni  in  this  district.  Doctors  have  much  evi- 
dence on  this  and  kindred  topics,  all  of  which  bears 
more  or  less  directly  on  the  problem  of  the  "roomer," 
which  we  cannot  discuss  here.  It  belongs  to  a  spe- 
cial investigation  of  the  subject  which  some  one 
should  make. 

We  insert  eome  concrete  cases  from  the  newspap- 
ers because  they  illustrate  so  many  of  the  character- 
istics of  rooming  house  life — the  heterogeneity  and 
fluidity  of  population,  the  vice  and  crime  prevail- 
ing here,  and  the  moral  dangers  with  which  that  life 
is  beset. 

"Forty-four  Caught  in  Raid." 

(Press,  February,  1911.) 

"Forty-four  prisoners  caught  in  one  house  was  the 
record  established  in  a  raid  made  by  the  police  of 
the  Tenth  and  Buttonwood  streets  Police  Station 
yesterday  morning,  at  343  N.  Ninth  street. 

"Yesterday  morning  Magistrate  Belcher  held  Mr. 


PROSTITUTION  AND  CRIME  133 

aad  Mrs. in  $500  bail  each,  for 

court,  charged  with  being  the  proprietors,  and  the 
others  caught  in  the  dragnet  received  either  ten  or 
thirteen  day  sentences  in  the  County  Prison  or  were 
fined  $6.50  and  costs  each.  The  raiders  had  the 
place  covered  for  some  time.  It  was  a  cider  saloon, 
and  when  the  descent  was  made,  ten  women  and 
thirty-four  men  were  caught.  This  included  a  three- 
piece  orchestra." 

"Six  Years  in  Jail  for  'White  Slaver,' " 

"Young  Man  Who  Admitted1  Keeping  Girl  Prisoner 

in  Disorderly  House  is  Severely  Punished." 

(From  Evening  Bulletin,  April  26,  1910.) 

"Louis  Cantor  today  pleaded  guilty  before  Judge 
Carr  in  Quarter  Sessions  Court  No.  1,  to  luring 
Dora  Rubin,  a  pretty  young  Austrian  girl,  to  this 
city,  and  forcing  her  into  a  life  of  shame  or  what 
is  known  as  a  'white  slave.' 

"Judge  Carr  told  the  prisoner  that  he  would  sent- 
ence him  to  the  full  penalty  of  the  law,  not  only  for 
hie  own  punishment,  but  as  a  warning  to  his  asso- 
ciates in  the  same  business.  On  the  three  indict- 
ments he  was  sentenced  to  three  years,  two  years 
and  one  year  repectively,  making  six  years,  alto- 
gether, to  the  county  prison.  The  girl,  who  can 
speak  a  little  English,  and  who  has  only  been  in 
this  country  a  short  time,  is  an  orphan.  She  was 
living  in  New  York  with  an  uncle  and  supporting 
herself  by  working  in  a  factory.  At  the  noon  hour 
she  was  in  the  habit  of  buying  her  lunch,  along 


134  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

with  the  other  girls,  in  a  cheap  restaurant  near  the 
factory,  and  it  was  in  this  place  that  the  prisoner 
Cantor  first  saw  her  and  introduced  himself  to  her 
ae  a  fellow  countryman. 

"After  taking  her  to  theatres  and  other  places  of 
amusement,  he  won  his  way  into  her  confidence, 
and  at  the  end  of  a  week's  time  persuaded  her  to 
accompany  him.'  to  Philadelphia  to  get  married. 
After  coming  to  Philadelphia,  he  took  her  to  a  dis- 
orderly house,  where,  by  means  of  threats,  he  forced 
her  to  become  a  'white  slave/  and  turn  her  earnings 
over  to  him,  under  the  pretence  that  he  would  save 
the  money  until  they  had  enough  to  get  married  and 
go  to  housekeeping. 

"The  girl  was  rescued  by  Gibboney,  of  the  Law 
and  Order  Society,  whose  attention,  wasi  called  to 
the  case,  by  a  man  to  whom  she  had  told  her  plight 
and  appealed  for  protection  at  the  first  opportunity, 
when  Cantor,  seeing  that  she  was  ill  and  weak  from 
the  abuse  andi  ill-treatment  to  which  she  had  been 
subjected,  took  her  to  a  moving  picture  show  one 
evening  last  week  and  left  her  for  a  few  minutes 
while  he  spoke  to  an  acquaintance. 

"When,  Cantor  was  placed  in  the  dock  he  pleaded 
not  guilty  to  the  charges  in  the  three  indictments 
against  him,  but  after  he  saw  the  effect  that  the 
testimony  of  his  victim  had  made  on  the  judge  and 
jury,  as  was  plainly  detected  on  the  stern,  faces 
turned  towards  him,  he  decided  to  change  his  plea 
in  the  hope  that  his-  punishment  be  made  light. 
Judge  Carr,  however,  refused  to  listen  to  any  plea 


PROSTITUTION  AND  CRIME  135 

or  excuse,  when  Cantor  attempted  to  explain,  that 
he  had  been  told  the  girl  was  a  bad  girl  before  he 
met  her. 

"Assistant  District  Attorney  Kogers.,  who  con- 
ducted the  examination  of  the  girl,  endeavored  to 
learn  from  Cantor  how  many  of  hie  friends  were 
engaged  in  the  'white  slave'  traffic  in  New  York,  but 
the  prisoner  could  not  be  led  into  a  confession  im- 
plicating any  of  his  associates.  Secretary  Gibboney, 
of  the  Law  and  Order  Society,  who  was  in  court, 
hopes  to  secure  the  arrest  of  several  other  men  with 
whom  Cantor  associated  while  in  this  city,  and  who 
are  supposedly  all  members  of  an  alleged  syndicate 
engaged  in  the  'white  slave'  traffic,  having  their  base 
of  operations  in  New  York,  with  houses  in  this  city, 
where  young  immigrant  girls  are  taken." 


"Missing  Woman  Found  Dead  in  Booming  House 

in   Tenderloin,   and   Companion   Held." 

"Police  Iveatigate   Strange  Circumstances." 

"Arrests  May  Follow  Probe  into  Death,  of  Former 

College  Teacher  and  Amateur  Actress." 
"Coroner  Ford  this  afternoon  ordered  a  rigid  in- 
vestigation, into  the  circumstances!  surrounding  the 

death  of  Mrs.  lona  Mae  M ,  a  talented  school 

teacher  and  elocutionist,  who  died  in  a  room  at  467 
N.  Ninth  street,  yesterday.    Missing  from.1  her  home 

for  a  week,  Mrs.  M ,  for  ten  years  a  teacher  at' 

Girard  College,  and  lately  a  public  school  teacher 
and   dramatic   coach,   was    found   dead   yesterday, 


136  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

under  what  the  police  say  were  suspicious  circum- 
stances. 

"William  C ,  forty  years  oldi,  was  arrested  by 

the  Tenth  and  Buttonwood  streets  police,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  teacher's  death,  but  the  police  throw 
an  air  of  mystery  around  their  investigation  and 
declare  that  the  man  is  held  merely  as  a  witness)  for 
the  coroner's  inquest.  During  the  last  three  weeks 

Mrs*.  M had  stayed  away  from  home  over  night, 

two  or  three  times,  her  relatives  say.  She  explained, 
however,  that  she  was  staying  with  friends  and  that 
she  found  it  more  convenient  instead  of  returning 
home  late  after  the  rehearsals  for  dramatic  charity 
entertainments1,  which  she  arranged;. 

"Her  husband,  whose  body  she  brought  home  from 
Italy  a  year  ago,  had  left  her  some  property,  houses 
as  well  as  a  large  personal  estate,  estimated  to  be 
worth  thousands  of  dollars.  She  carried  consider- 
able money  with  her  as  a  rule,  and  also  rings  and 
jewelry  worth  several  hundred  dollars. 

"C was  a  former  policeman  and  was  living 

with  Mrs.  M when  she  died'.     What  happened 

to  Mrs;.  M since  she  left  home  was  told  by  C 

in  the  police  station  today.     He  said  he  met  Mrs. 

M in  a  house  near  Thirteenth  and  Pearl  streets,' 

where  they  were  drinking.     The  police  allege  that 

C passed  as  the  husband  of  Mrs.  M .     The 

couple  went  to  live  in  a  lodging  house  at  Fifteenth 
and  Vine  streets.  After  this  he  rented  a  room  at 
the  Ninth  street  house  for  himself  and  wife.  He 


PROSTITUTION  AND  CRIME  137 

did  not  give  his  name  to  the  proprietress  of  the 
Ninth  street  house.  It  was  here  that  eh©  died  under 
suspicious  circumstances." 

In  May,  1908,  we  learned  of  a  very  fine  looking 
young  woman  living  in  the  rooming  district,  near 
Spring  Garden  street,  who  attracted  considerable 
attention  by  her  stylish  dress.  She  was;  also  known 
to  frequent  certain  well-known  cafes  during  the 
day.  Men  looked  for  her  in  vain  at  night.  On 
learning  the  story  of  her  life  it  was'  found  that  she 
wasi  only  twenty  years  old,  and  was  the  wife  of  a 
bank  examiner.  At  fifteen  she  cam©  home  from  a 
fashionable  boarding-school  and  lived  with  her  par- 
ents in  the  northwestern  section  of  Philadelphia. 
She  fell  in  love  with  a  boy  who  was  her  senior  by  a 
'year.  On  the  promise  of  marriage,  they  assumed 
illicit  relations,  and  she  became  pregnant.  The 
young  man  was  not  in  a  position  to  marry  her,  and 
she  was  sent  by  her  parents  to  a  rural  district  in 
the  state  of  Maryland,  where  a  criminal  operation 
was  performed.  On  returning  home  her  parents 
handed  her  a  $10  bill,  and  told  her  they  had  decided 
that  she  must  now  leave  home  and  look  out  for  her- 
self. She  declared  that  this  action  on  the  part  of 
her  parents  was  a  great  mistake.  She  had  no  desire 
for  any  further  illicit  relations,  and  might  have  been 
induced  to  lead  a  moral  and  respectable  life  under 
the  guardianship  of  her  father  and  mother.  She 
left  home,  a  mere  girl  not  yet  sixteen,  with  light 
curls  hanging  down  her  shoulders.  She  went  down 


138  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

town  and  walked  up  and  down  Chestnut  street.  In 
a  short  time  an  eminently  respectable  looking,  well- 
groomed  man  accosted  her  in  passing,  saying,  "What 
pretty  curls  you  have,  little  girl."  She  replied,  "Do 
you  think  so?"  He  stepped'  up  to  her,  raised  his 
hat,  and  asked  her  where  she  was  going,  to  which 
she  replied,  "I  think  I  will  go  with  you."  He  laugh- 
ingly a&ked  her  to  follow  him  to  a  side  entrance  of 
a  cafe.  Here  she  explained  her  situation.  He  im- 
mediately took  her  to  a  "rooming  house"  and  in  a 
few  days1  had  her  fitted  up  with  handsome  new 
gowns,  hats,  shoes  and  other  articles,  essential  to  a 
girl's  wardrobe.  He  then  took  her  to  New  York 
City  and  placed  her  in  a  fashionable  hotel.  She 
became  the  protege  of  this  man,  who  visited  her 
weekly  for  two  years.  He  gave  her  a  musical  edu- 
cation. She  obtained  a  position  in  a  chorus  and 
toured  the  smaller  towns  and  cities  of  New  York 
State  and  Pennsylvania  in  the  Elsie  Janis  Com- 
pany. During  this  time  she  remained  true  to  the 
old  "gentleman."  In  Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  she 
met  an  alluring  young  man  and  yielded  to  his  en- 
treaties. He  placed  her  in  a  house  of  prostitution. 
Here  she  remained  under  contract  for  nearly  nine 
months,  when  one  of  the  patrons  of  the  place  was 
attracted  by  her  beauty  and  youth,  and  asked  her  to 
become  his  wife  if  she  could  love  him.  She  accept- 
ed, and  in  December,  1907,  they  were  married  in 
Wilmington,  Delaware,  and  returned  to  Philadel- 
phia to  the  furnished  room  district  to  live.  They 
lived  here  until  the  early  part  of  1910,  when  she 


PROSTITUTION  AND  CRIME  139 

and  her  husband  suddenly  moved  from  the  district, 
leaving  no  traces  of  their  whereabouts. 

The  prevalence  of  immorality  among  males  is  a 
less  uncertain  quantity  than  is>  the  extent  of  prosti- 
tution! among  women  lodgers.  The  evidence  of  a 
number  of  reliable  physicians  of  the  district  is  that 
sexual  immorality  and  venereal  disease  are  very 
common  among  male  lodgers.  Indeed,  one  is  led  to 
believe  that  few  young  men  in  the  rooming  district 
escape  contamination  at  some  time  in  their  lives'. 
Drug  clerks  say  that  a  large  quantity  of  patent 
medicines  and  preparations  for 'venereal  diseases1  are 
sold  to  men  and  women  in  the  district.  The  great 
number  of  medical  specialists  thriving  in  this  dis- 
trict and  advertising  in  one  or  two  of  the  less  reput- 
able newspapers,  is  an  indication  of  an  evil  growing 
directly  out  of  the  temporary  unions  to  which  we 
have  alluded:,  and  the  disinclination  of  all  classes 
to  have  children.  A  number  of  malpractitioners 
have  been  arrested  in  the  past,  but  very  few  are 
convicted.  The  law  requires  corroborative  evidence 
in  addition  to  the  so-called  dying  statements.  This 
corroborative  evidence  is  hard  to  get.  It  has  been 
found  almost  impossible  to  convict  a  physician  in- 
dicted for  malpractice  in  the  courts  of  the  city. 

No  one  acquainted  with  the  district  denies  the 
existence  of  the  social  evil  here.  It  is  found  here 
rather  than  elsewhere  because  there  is  no  neighbor- 
hood feeling  here.  The  main  external  check  upon 
a  man's  conduct,  the  opinion  of  his  neighbors,  which 


140  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

has  such  a  powerful  influence  in  the  country  or  email 
town,  tends  to  disappear  in  the  great  city.  In  the 
rooming  district  there  are  no  neighbors.  No  man 
knows  the  doings  of  even  his1  close  friends,  few  care 
what  the  secret  life  of  their  friends  and  neighbors 
may  be.  There  is  no  community  interest  that  can 
be  aroused  in  this  district.  Reform  is  impossible, 
because  the  advocates  of  better  conditions  are  not 
those  living  in  the  community,  but  fashionable  resi- 
dents and  reformers'  from  the  suburbs.  A  few  la- 
ment the  fact  that  things  are  not  as  they  once  were, 
or  that  "people"  are  very  wicked  in  our  "age,"  but 
seem  hopeless  to  remedy  this  state  of  affaire.  The 
small  shopkeepers  lament  the  fact  that  their  chil- 
dren must  be  reared  amid  such  vile  surroundings, 
yet,  are  careful  not  to  molest  these  housee  of  ill- 
fame  for  fear  of  losing  their  trade.  The  prostitute 
is  a  liberal  spender,  and  makes  most  of  her  pur- 
chases in  her  own  neighborhood.  The  policemen 
know  of  the  existence  of  these  houses,  but  rarely 
make  any  arrests.  Legal  proof  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  placing  a  woman  in  such  a  class  and  brand- 
ing her  as  a  prostitute.  Such  proof  must  neces- 
sarily in  the  majority  of  cases  be  difficult,  if  not  im- 
possible, to  obtain. 

We  are  all  agreed  upon  the  necessity  of  suppress- 
ing, so  far  as  possible,  flagrant  and  .open  incitement 
to  debauch.  Solicitation  upon  the  street  and  in 
public  places  should  be  restrained;  haunts  of  vice 
should  be  compelled  to  aseume  the  appearance  of  de- 
cency; in  short,  every  method  of  conspicuous  adver- 


PROSTITUTION  AND  CRIME  141 

tising  of  vice  should  be  done  away  with.  This  can 
be  only  partly  accomplished.  The  prostitute  will 
always  invent  ways  to  make  her  presence  known. 
Vice  is  especially  dangerous  in  public  'places.  The 
policy  of  the  License  Courts  of  Philadelphia,  of 
revoking  the  license  of  saloon  keepers  who  permit 
unattended  women  to  frequent  their  premises  has 
helped  to  drive  vice  from  the  saloon  proper.  The 
policy,  too,  of  calling  attention  to  bottlers  and  brew- 
ers whose  bottles  are  found  in  places  that  have  been 
raided  by  the  police  has  had  a  salutary  effect  in 
stamping  out  "speak-easies."  Vice  to  a  great  extent 
has  been  driven  from  public  places  since  the  enact- 
ment of  the  Brooks  High  License  Law. 

If  prostitution  is  denied  the  right  of  flaunting 
itself  in  public  places,  it  will  take  refuge  in  private 
houses.  This  is  what  has  occurred  in  Philadelphia. 
From  time  to  time  there  have  been  inns,  hotels  and 
rooming  houses  in  the  city  in,  which  no  attempt  has 
beem  made  to  conform  to  the  rules  of  morality  of 
the  general  community.  Rooming  house  keepers  of 
unscrupulous  character  have  winked  at  disreputable 
practices  when  they  have  not  positively  encouraged 
them  and  shared  the  resulting  profits.  It  is  easy 
to  go  a  step  further  and  understand  the  transition 
from  such  houses  that  wink  at  loose  practices  to  the 
house  of  assignation.,  which  does)  not  derive  any 
part  of  its  returns  from  the  legitimate  service  of 
keeping  roomers,  but  depends  upon  the  patronage 
brought  to  it  by  the  professional  street  walker. 
Wherever  solicitation  upon  the  street  is  permitted, 


142  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

such  establishments  will  exist.  Depending  entirely 
upon  vice,  their  location  is  necessarily  limited  to 
the  quarters  where  the  volume  of  vice  is 
considerable.  Solicitation  upon  the  street  is  in  turn 
limited  to  the  vicinity  of  such  houses,  since  the 
street-walker,  in  order  to  ply  her  vocation  with 
profit,  must  have  a  place  in  the  near  vicinity  to 
which  she  may  bring  her  victims. 

It  is  impossible  to  form  any  idea  of  the  number 
of  thefts  and  robberies  committed  by  prostitutes  and 
their  male  retainers,  since  the  victims  do  not  usu- 
ally make  complaint.  It  is  known,  however,  that 
such  crimes  do  take  place. 

More  stringent  method®  should  be  adopted  in 
dealing  with  this  problem.  The  evils  of  prostitution 
should  be  unceasingly  condemned  by  public  opinion 
as  a  sin  against  morality.  A  system  of  eugenics 
should  be  taught  in  the  public  schools.  Where  pros- 
titution assumes  the  form  of  a  public  nuisance,  it 
should  be  punished  as  a  crime.  Purer  forms  of 
amusement  for  the  young,  better  moral  education  in 
school,  home  and  church,  better  housing  and  living 
conditions  for  the  poor,  the  raising  of  the  wages 
for  female  labor,  the  establishment  of  correctional 
institutions  for  those  who  have  fallen — these  are 
some  of  the  methods  by  which  the  evil  could  be 
abated. 

Use  of  Cocaine. 

Closely  associated  with  the  subject  of  prostitution 
is  the  use  of  drugs  and  cocaine.  Startling  revelations 
concerning  the  use  of  cocaine  by  inhabitants  of  this 


USE  OF  DRUGS  143 

district  were  made  in  the  spring  of  1910.  Two  young 
men  in  the  district  made  a  confession,  throwing  an 
inside  light  on  the  effects  of  the  cocaine  habit.  Both 
men  had  just  passed1  their  twenty-third  birthday, 
yet  asserted  ihat  they  had  been  using  morphine  and 
cocaine  for  seven  or  eight  years.  Both  made  their 
confessions1  in  matter  of  fact  tones,  telling  as  simply 
as  if  speaking  of  the  weather,  how  young  boys  and 
girls  drifted  into  the  habit,  and  once  slaves  of  the 
desire,  would  commit  any  crime  to  obtain  the 
"dope";  how  they  lost  all  sense  of  decency,  all  re- 
gard for  law  and  all  sense  of  responsibility.  Co- 
caine is  taken  to  relieve  the  intense  depression  pro- 
duced by  indulgence  in  morphine.  Cocaine  is  an 
alkeloid  derived  from  coca  leaves.  The  hydrochlo- 
rate  which  is  that  sold  among  the  "dope  fiends"  is 
excellent  as  a  local  anesthetic,  being  made  into  a 
solution  and  injected  at  the  point  to  be  affected.  It 
produces  temporary  insensibility  to  pain  and  in  the 
hands  of  an  expert  surgeon  leaves  no  disagreeable 
after  effects.  The  very  qualities  which  make  the 
drug  effective  as  an  anesthetic,  however,  make  it 
harmful  as  an  ordinary  stimulant.  Its  prolonged 
use  wrecks  the  mind  and  body  and  causes  muscular 
twitching  and  insomnia.  Druggists  were  arrested 
for  selling  it  to  children  in  this  crusade.  Later  they 
were  tried  and  convicted.  The  pallid  faces,  the 
drooping  eyelids  of  numberless!  men  and  women  to 
be  seen  on  the  streets  tell  a  ghastly  story.  Cocaine 
fiends  are  usually  victims  of  the  morphine  habit 
before  they  begin  the  use  of  cocaine.  Prostitutes 


144  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

and  persons  whose  systems  are  jaded  use  these  drugs 
to  get  some  of  their  former  energy  back.  There  is 
usually  an  unnatural  life  that  antedates  the  begin- 
ning of  the  drug  habit. 

This  crusade  against  cocaine  and  morphine  was 
begun  by  the  State  Pharmaceutical  Board  early  in 
1910.  In  less  than  three  months  one  hundred  arrests 
were  made,  all  of  which  have  since  been  tried  and 
convictions  obtained  in  nearly  every  case.  During 
the  trials  it  was  shown  that  a  well  organized  "Co- 
caine Syndicate"  existed  in  Philadelphia's  Tender-' 
loin.  Children  of  the  public  schools  had  purchased 
this  fatal  drug  and  had  become  "sniffers"  of  "coke." 
DT.  Joseph  P.  Remington,  dean  of  the  College  of 
Pharmacy,  is  responsible  for  the  statement  that 
many  children  of  the  crowded  sections  touching  the 
Tenderloin  and  "rooming"  quarters,  are  addicted  to 
the  cocaine  habit. 

I  insert  an  extract  from  the  Press  of  April  2, 
1910.  "The  startling  discovery  has  just  been  made 
that  the  drug  is  being  used  extensively  by  children. 
It  is  said  that  those  who  have  become  fiends  first 
used  cocaine  put  up  in  the  form  of  a  catarrh  cure. 
Some  years  ago,  before  the  food  and  drugs  act  of 
1906  became  a  law,  many  so-called  cures  for  catarrh 
were  put  up  in  the  form  of  a  patented  article.  It  is 
a  known  fact  that  cocaine  has  some  effect  upon  the 
mucous  membranes,  and  to  those  who  first  used  the 
"medicine"  some  relief  was  afforded.  After  having 
used  several  boxes  the  unsuspecting  victim'  became 
a  slave  to  the  habit.  The  so-called1  cure  had  done 


USE  OF  DRUGS  145 

its  work,  and  the  victim,  in  search  of  relief  from 
one  disease,  found  himself  in  the  toils  of  another. 

"These  catarrh  cures  have  been  given  to  children 
by  parents-  who  were  unaware  of  the  drug  that  they 
were  administering.  Many  adults  were  using  the 
drug  without  ever  knowing  that  they  were  taking 
'dope.'  It  has  been  discovered  that  in  certain  sec- 
tions of  the  city,  candy  and  chewing  gum,  contain- 
ing cocaine  are  sold  indiscriminately.  Children 
using  the  gum  and  candy  develop  a  craving  for 
more.  In  a  short  time  they  become  addicted  to  the 
habit  and  buy  the  drug  from  any  of  a  number  of 
illicit  merchants.  Dr.  Koch  says  that  children  save 
their  pennies  until  a  number  of  them  have  saved  a 
quarter.  With  this  they  buy  a  'two-bite  sniff'. 

"A  device  has  been  invented  by  these  young  vic- 
tims which  they  carry  in  their  pockets  and  use 
from  time  to  time.  It  consists  of  a  small  box,  in 
the  side  of  which  a  hole  is  bored.  In  this  opening 
a  small  glass  tube,  like  the  glass  filler  for  a  fountain- 
pen,  is  inserted.  The  stiff  cover  of  the  box  is  re- 
moved and  in  its  place  a  piece  of  cloth  or  thin  paper 
is  placed.  The  box  is  filled  with  the  white  powder, 
and  when  the  drug  fiend  wishes  to  take  a  sniff  of 
'coke'  he  places  the  glass  tube  to  the  nose  and  tape 
the  improvised  cover  of  the  box.  The  vibrations 
send  little  particles  of  the  drug  to  the  nostrils.  In 
this  manner  the  powder  is  placed  where  the  effect  is 
quick.  Many  of  these  boxes  have  been  found  in  the 
pockets  of  young  children." 

Lieutenant  Barry,  of  the  Tenderloin  Police  Sta- 


146  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

tion,  has  since  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  these 
wholesale  raids  were  followed  by  a  wave  of  crime 
such  as  hold-ups  and  shooting  affrays,  in  which 
"dope  users"  were  the  offenders.  Maddened  by  the 
inability  to  satisfy  their  craving:  for  "coke",  they 
sometimes  attacked  innocent  passers-by  in  sheer 
wantonness. 

In  Philadelphia,  the  rooming-house  is  dragged 
into  the  papers  very  frequently,  by  the  suicide  of  the 
roomer.  In  October,  1910,  five  instances  came  to 
notice  in  two  weeks.  There  were,  doubtless,  others 
as  well.  Many  have  come  to  our  attention  since. 
There  is  a  house  on  Spring  Garden  street  where  five 
suicides  occurred)  within  a  year.  It  is  natural  that 
the  rooming  house  should  be  the  scene  of  such  trage- 
dies, the  friendless,  the  unemployed,  the  despondent, 
those  disappointed  in  love,  and  girls  in  trouble  drift 
to  the  rooming  house.  The  causes  of  suicide  are 
various,  and  often  throw  a  side  light  on  the  inner 
life  of  the  rooming  house  district.  Murders  and 
double  shootings  frequently  occur  in  the  rooming 
house,  and  are  generally  due  to  jealousy.  In.  1909, 
a  murder  and  suicide  occurred  in  a  house  on  Spring 
Garden  street.  When  the  parties  were  identified  it 
was  found  that  a  father  and  step-daughter  had  run 
away  from  home  in  Newark  and  had  rented  rooms 
as  man  and  wife.  The  man  was  fifty-five  years  of 
age,  and  his  step-daughter  sixteen.  When  the  police 
became  suspicious  and  began  to  ask  questions,  he 
shot  his  step-daughter  and  killed  himself. 

Crimes  of  a  less  serious  nature  occur  continually. 


USE  OF  DRUGS  147 

When  a  shop-lifter  is  arrested,  it  is  generally  found 
that  she  lives  in  some  rooming  house.  Fourteen 
cases  of  this  kind  have  come  to  our  notice  in  six 
months.  In  February,  1911,  the  Bulletin  contained 
the  following  article: 

"Daisy  Brown  Held." 

"Daniel  Brown,  alias  'Daisy  Brown/  who  was  ar- 
rested at  324  N.  Eighth  street,  by  Detective  Scanlon 
and  Special  Officer  McCarty,  charged  with  having 
received  stolen  jewelry  valued  at  $300,  was  held  in 
bail  for  a  further  hearing  this  morning,  by  Magis- 
trate Beaton  at  the  Central  Police  Court  yesterday. 

"Brown  was  arrested  on  a  warrant  sworn  out  by 

Simon  G ,  seventeen  years  old,  who  was  arrested 

on  December  14th,  and  sentenced  to  four  years  in 
the  Huntingdon  Reformatory  for  the  theft  of  rings 
and  other  articles  of  value,  which  amounted  to  $300, 
from  Mrs.  Annie  Smith,  of  29  N.  Felton  street. 

"The  boy  declared  that  he  had  sold  the  jewelry  to 
'Daisy'  for  the  sum  of  $20,  with  which  he  hoped  to 
leave  the  city,  and  said  that  when  he  asked  for  more 
money,  Brown  gave  him  a  severe  beating." 

Different  crimes  are  brought  to  our  attention  from 
time  to  time.  A  man  was  locked  up  for  attacking 
his  wife  and  choking  his  daughter.  Two  men  were 
arrested  for  swindling.  A  shoplifter  had  stolen  goods 
in  a  department  store  and  pawned  them,  a  woman 
stole  milk  bottles  from  the  front  steps.  These  crimes 
were  committed  in  the  district  in  a  single  month. 
The  district  is  a  sort  of  sink  into  which  are  drained 
all  the  homeless  vagabonds  who  live  by  their  wits 


148  SOCIAL  CONDITION 

or  prey  on  the  community.  Thousands  of  good  peo- 
ple live  in  this  neighborhood.  The  good  andi  bad 
dwell  under  the  same  roof  and  sleep  in  adjoining 
rooms.  Whether  young  men  and  women  are  thrown 
directly  into  contact  with  prostitutes  and  criminals 
is  not  the  question.  The  fact  is,  that  they  are  living 
in  an  unfavorable  environment,  next  door  to  fearful 
possibilities,  and  the  surprise  is,  that  these  possibili- 
ties do  not  more  frequently  develop  into  actualities. 


Summary^ 

The  problem  of  the  roomer  is  due,  mainly,  to  eco- 
nomic causes.  There  always  will  be  a  boarding  or 
rooming  house  problem  of  some  sort,  especially  if 
the  growth  of  our  cities  continues.  The  phenomenal 
growth  of  the  modern  city  is  due  to  a  re- distribution 
of  population.  Philadelphia  is  two  hundred'  and 
twenty-five  years  old,  yet  one-third  of  its  population 
has  been  added  during  the  past  twenty  years.  One 
of  the  causes  contributing  to  this  growth  of  the  city 
is  due  to  the  application  of  machinery  to  agriculture. 
A  special  agent  of  the  government  reporte  that  four 
men  with  improved  agricultural  implements  now  do 
the  work  formerly  done  by  fourteen  men.  Philadel- 
phia is  situated  in  the  midst  of  the  richest  districts 
of  the  United'  States.  The  value  of  the  farm  pro- 
ducts of  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  exceeds  that  of  any 
other  county  in  the  United  States.  Montgomery 
county  stands  second  in  the  list  and  Chester  county 
third.  Owing  to  the  introduction  of  machinery  on 
the  farm,  many  young  men  leave  the  farming  dis- 
tricts and  migrate  to  the  city.  The  springing  up  of 
factories  in  the  city  has  created  a  demand  for  labor 
of  all  kinds  and  attracted  to  the  city  the  laborers 
who  were  driven  from  the  f arms.  The  railway  has 
been  one  of  the  principal  factors  in  the  growth  of 
our  cities.  Because  of  the  remarkable  railway  sys- 
tem it  is  an  easy  matter  to  transport  food  to  the 
cities,  thus  making  it  possible  to  feed  any  number  of 


150  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

people  massed  at  one  point.  The  tremendous  migra- 
tion of  thousands!  of  young  men  and  women  from 
country  to  city,  which  characterizes  our  present-day 
civilization,  is  creating  new  social  problems.  The 
call  for  hands  and  brains  to  do  the  world's  work 
brings  young  men  to  the  city  from  a  thousand  direc- 
tions.. To  the  young  man  the  city  is  more  attractive 
than  the  country.  Here  may  be  found  superior  edu- 
cational advantages,  greater  religious  privileges, 
more  amusements,  and  an  endless  variety  of  excite- 
ment and  happenings  which  appeal  strongly  to  a 
young  man  or  woman.  The  call  of  the  city  rather 
than  the  call  of  the  wild  lures  the  youth  of  today. 
Men  no  longer  live  at  home  with  their  parents  until 
their  apprentice  days  are  past  and  until  they  are 
able  to  set  up  a  home  for  themselves,  as  was  the  case 
a  generation  or  two  ago.  They  must  be  able  to  go 
where  work  is  plenty  and  labor  scarce.  All  these 
tendencies  of  our  present  day  civilization  produce 
the  peculiar  restlessness,  the  clanniehness,  the  no- 
madism>  characteristic  of  the  youth  of  today. 

To  this  class  of  workers  a  boarding  or  rooming 
house  is  a  necessity.  Those  comprising  the  boarding 
or  rooming  house  population  have  110  household  gods 
of  a  former  generation  to  which  they  are  attached, 
and  are  not  hampered  by  any  impedimenta  save  a 
valise  or  a  trunk.  They  come  and  go  when  they 
please  and  where  they  please.  It  is  fortunate  for 
this  wandering  class  that  shelter  and  food  are  to  be 
had;  fortunate  for  the  landlady  that  the  roomer 
comes  and  goes ;  and  fortunate  for  the  owner  of  the 


SUMMARY  151 

property  that  some  one  is  willing  to  engage  in  such 
an  undertaking  as  that  of  boarding  house  keeper 
and  thus  insure  him  a  large  return  on  the  money  in- 
vested in  the  property. 

The  district  we  have  had  under  consideration  is 
the  resultant  of  three  forces — the  flow  of  population 
from  the  country  to  the  city;  the  migration  of  the 
older  residents  from  the  congested  downtown  sec- 
tion to  the  suburbs,  due  to  the  advent  of  large  busi- 
ness establishments  and  factories';  the  coming  in  of 
widows  and  thrifty  young  married  couples  to  open 
up  boarding  and  rooming  houses  in  answer  to  the 
demand  for  shelter.  Such  a  district  has  fairly  well- 
defined  boundaries  which  change  as  the  conditions 
mentioned  change. 

From  earliest  colonial  days  there  have  been  board- 
ing houses  and  taverns  for  the  accommodation)  of 
strangers  and  those  who  had  no  families.  The  real 
development  of  Philadelphia  began  in  1854,  fifty-six 
years-  .ago.  At  the  time  of  consolidation  the  new 
city  had  a  population  of  530,000,  or  about  one- third 
of  its  present-day  population.  The  growth  of  the 
city  began  after  the  era  of  consolidation.  After  the 
Civil  War  the  country  districts  surrounding  Phila- 
delphia contributed  a  large  number  of  young  men 
and  women  at  the  height  of  their  industrial  effici- 
ency, who  shared  in  the  future  development  and 
growth  of  the  city.  These  young  men  and  women 
were  housed  in  the  comfortable  old-fashioned  board- 
ing house.  They  were  generally  treated  as  members 
of  the  family,  and  the  boarding  house  mistress  mani- 


152  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

fested  a  kindly  interest  in  them,  shared  their  trials 
incident  to  the  new  environment,  invited  them  to 
accompany  her  to  church  and  worship  in  her  pew, 
and  in  more  ways  than  one  assumed  the  role  of  a 
mother  in  that  critical  period  of  their  lives.  Many 
of  the  prominent  business  men  of  our  city  today  are 
ready  to  testify  to  the  superior  advantages  and  the 
refined  surroundings  of  the  boarding  house  of  a  gen- 
eration ago.  It  was  a  real  home,  where  there  was  a 
public  parlor,  where  one's  friends  might  be  enter- 
tained, and  in  which  the  boarders  assembled  at  night 
to  sing  songs,  play  games  and  relate  the  experiences 
of  the  day. 

The  old-fashioned  boarding  house  is  practically 
extinct.  The  rooming  house  has  taken  its  place. 
The  change  from  boarding  to  rooming  began  at  the 
time  of  the  Centennial  Exposition  in  1876.  It  is 
going  on  more  rapidly  than  ever.  This  is  true  of  the 
district  we  have  had  under  consideration.  The  prin- 
cipal cause  of  this  transition  is  economic.  The  high 
price  of  living  has  made  it  impossible  for  boarding 
house  keepers  to  make  both  ends  meet.  Most  of  those 
who  have  given  up  "keeping  boarders"  and  are  now 
conducting  rooming  houses,  declare  they  could  no 
longer  make  a  living  by  "keeping  boarders."  It  is 
impossible  to  raise  rates  after  they  once  have  been 
established.  The  working  hours  for  various  occupa- 
tions are  so  different  that  it  is  impossible  to  set  a 
time  for  meals,  convenient  for  all  the  boarders.  Un- 
less the  establishment  is  very  large,  it  is  impossible 
to  serve  well-cooked  meals  at  almost  all  hours.  The 


SUMMARY  153 

domestic  servant  problem  is  a  serious  one  for  board- 
ing house  keepers  find  it  extremely  diffcult  to  pro- 
cure help  to  assist  in  general  housework.  The  room- 
ing house  keeper,  on  the  other  hand,  experiences,  no 
difficulty  in  securing  a  chambermaid  or  an  upstairs 
girl,  or  a  woman  to  come  in  and  clean  by  the  day. 
Cafe  proprietors  have  no  difficulty  in  procuring  wait- 
resses or  cooks.  The  work  of  domestics  is  becoming 
specialized.  To  secure  a  girl  for  "general  housework" 
is  well-nigh  an  impossibility.  The  cafe  has  other 
advantages  over  the  boarding  house,  inasmuch  aa  it 
is  prepared  to  serve  meals  at  all  hours.  One  can 
order  what  he  cares  for.  There  is  also  greater  free- 
dom in  the  life  of  a  lodging  house  than  in  a  boarding 
house.  The  main  reason  for  the  transition  from 
boarding  to  rooming  is  an  economic  one.  The  board- 
ing house  keeper  goes  out  of  business1  because  she 
can  no  longer  gain  a  competence  by  keeping  boarders, 
or  because  she  finds  that  greater  returns1  are  assured 
her  by  running  a  "rooming  house." 

We  need  not  enter  into  a  lengthy  description  of 
the  character  of  the  landladies.  This  varies  greatly. 
The  character  of  the  landlady,  to  some  extent,  deter- 
mines the  condition  of  life  of  the  lodger.  Her  eco- 
nomic condition  is  usually  precarious.  She  engages 
in  the  rooming  house  business  because  it  is  about 
the  only  thing  she  is  fitted  for.  She  is  usually  a 
widow  without  any  other  income,  or  a  young  mar- 
ried woman  who  uses  this  means  of  adding  to  the 
family  income.  Many  a  boarding  and  rooming 
house  keeper  is  the  product  of  hard  luck  and  adverse 


154  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

circumstances,  and  often  the  prey  of  the  loan-sharks, 
the  real  estate  operator,  and  the  agents  of  the  credit 
system.  Her  economic  condition  is  frequently  such 
that  practices  are  allowed  that  she  would  not  other- 
wise countenance,  if  she  were  in  better  financial  cir- 
cumstances. Her  effort  to  make  both  ends  meet  is 
a  prominent  cause  for  the  existence  of  immoral  prac- 
tices. It  requires  greater  moral  courage  than  is  gen- 
erally possessed  by  the  average  rooming  house  pro- 
prietor to  refuse  several  dollars  for  the  use  of  a  room 
for  immoral  purposes,  especially  when  one  is  situated 
in  a  district  where  no  one  seems  to  care,  and,  if  they 
did  care,  would  not  be  likely  to  find  it  out. 

There  are  a  number  of  characteristics  common  to 
the  roomer.  In  this  aggregation  of  men  and  women 
in  the  rooming  house  districts  mutual  acquaintance 
and  association  is  established,  and  this  leads  to  the 
formation  of  similarities  of  kind.  There  is  what 
Giddings  calls  a  potential  likeness  to  be  noted  among 
the  members  of  the  boarding  and  rooming  house 
population.  This  is  natural,  inasmuch  as  they  are 
influenced  by  the  same  environmental  conditions. 
This  has  led  to  the  formation  of  a  "type."  The  ex- 
pression is  often  heard  from  those  acquainted  with 
rooming  house  life,  in  discussing  a  "roomer7' :  "He 
is  a  typical  furnished-roomer."  There  is  a  well- 
developed  consciousness  of  kind  among  the  dwellers 
in  "rooming  houses."  One  of  the  characteristics  of 
the  roomer  is  his  desire  to  move  frequently.  He 
is  a  nomad.  He  often  makes  a  change  for  no  other 
reason  than  to  satisfy  this  longing.  The  peculiar 


SUMMARY  155 

isolation  in  the  life  of  a  roomer  tends  to  make  him 
unsocial,  to  a  certain  extent,  suspicious  of  strangers, 
and  cautious  in  making  advances.  There  is  a  tend- 
ency for  the  roomer  to  group  by  occupation.  This 
habit  of  grouping  according  to  occupation  is  so  pro- 
nounced that  there  is  a  characteristic  tone  to  certain 
small  localities.  One  block  may  be  filled  mostly  by 
iron  workers  from  Baldwin's  Locomotive  Works,  an- 
other district  may  be  recognized  as  a  student  centre, 
while  still  another  may  be  composed  mostly  of  rail- 
road men,  etc. 

The  economic  condition  of  the  average  rooming 
house  occupant  is  not  a  roseate  one.  He  is  not  far 
removed  from  want.  The  salary  of  the  young  clerk, 
bookkeeper,  stenographer,  plumber's  helper,  me- 
chanic, etc.,  is  not  large.  His  fixed  expenses  are  so 
higli  that  there  is  the  constant  struggle  to  make 
both  ends'  meet.  The  furnished  room  houses  are 
filled  with  human  derelicts,  who  are  "down  and  out". 
Philanthropic  workers  declare  that  there  is  a  large 
amount  of  real  poverty  in  the  district,  and  many 
cases  of  misery  constantly  coming  to  our  notice  in 
this  district.  This  is  especially  true  of  those  occupy- 
ing "furnished  rooms  for  housekeeping." 

There  is  no  real  social  life  within  the  rooming 
house.  Surrounded  by  thousands  of  their  own  age 
and  social  position,  many  roomers  are  as  much  alone 
as  a  Crusoe  on  some  desert  island.  There  is  a  re- 
markable isolation  of  the  individual  roomer  from  his 
fellows.  Lodgers  of  the  same  house  usually  keep  to 
themselves.  There  is  no  lingering  after  meals,  no 


156  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

music,  no  discussions  of  the  events  of  the  day,  or  oi 
sporting  news,  no  Saturday  afternoon  excursion 
planned  by  the  roomers.  In  very  rare  instances  does 
one  find  a  home-like  atmosphere  in  a  rooming  house. 
What  is  the  young  fellow  fresh  from  the  country  to 
do  with  his  leisure  hours?  The  motherly  landlady 
of  a  generation  ago  is  largely  a  dream  of  the  past. 
He  picks  up  a  chance  acquaintance  somewhere.  This 
acquaintance  may  be  good  or  bad.  But  the  possi- 
bilities wrapped  up  in  casual  meetings  may  assume 
a  dangerous  aspect.  Women  of  immoral  character 
have  been  known  to  take  a  room  next  to  a  young 
country  lad  on  the  third  floor  rear. 

The  Church,  which  forms  the  center  of  social  life 
in  many  a  rural  community,  does  not  exert  a  very 
marked  influence  upon  the  inhabitants  of  this  dis- 
trict. The  roomer  does  not  go  to  church.  A  few 
attend  services  occasionally.  They  do  not  have  a 
church  home.  Very  few  are  in  any  way  identified 
with  the  active  work  of  the  congregation.  Of  the 
non-church  goers  the  vast  majority  are  men.  Dr. 
Josiah  Strong  is  responsible  for  the  statement  that 
"in  New  York  City  not  more  than  three  per  cent,  of 
the  male  population  are  members  of  the  Protestant 
churches.  The  men  who  are  nominally  communi- 
cants of  the  Catholic  Church  rarely  ever  attend  its 
services."  It  is  hard  to  reach  a  just  conclusion  in 
matters  of  this  kind.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  less  than 
ten  per  cent,  of  the  rooming  population  are  regular 
attendants  upon  the  services  of  the  Church.  More 
than  three-fourths  of  the  population  are  absolutely 
strangers  to  the  churches. 


SUMMARY  157 

There  is  no  necessity  of  multiplying  figures.  The 
facts  are  known  and  recognized  everywhere.  In  most 
places  there  is  not  room  in  our  churches  for  one-third 
of  the  population,  if  they  wanted  to  go.  This  room 
is  not  one-half  taken;  that  which  is  taken  is  largely 
occupied  by  women.  Less  than  forty  religious  or- 
ganizations remain  in  the  district  under  considera- 
tion. Are  they  adequate  to  minister  to  the  spiritual 
needs  of  a  population  of  102,000?  More  than  one- 
half  of  the  churches  have  removed  from  the  district 
within  the  past  40  years.  Some  that  remain  are  so 
enfeebled  by  age  that  they  are  anxiously  awaiting 
the  moment  to  sing  their  "nunc  dimittis"  and  depart 
in  peace. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  not  retreated. 
This  Church  receives  thousands  of  additions  to  her 
host  of  worshippers  from  the  immigrant  population. 
She  holds  men  through  the  power  of  her  compact 
organization.  There  are,  of  course,  continual  defec- 
tions from  her  altars  as  well  as  from  the  Protestant 
churches.  One  need  not  go  far  in  a  large  city  to 
find  members  of  the  Roman  Catholics  who  are  not 
true  to  their  confirmation  vows.  On  the  whole,  how- 
ever, she  seems  to  exercise  a  greater  influence  upon 
h^r  members  than  does  the  Protestant  Church. 

The  Protestant  churches  are  seriously  asking 
where  they  have  failed.  They  are  awaking  to  the 
situation  which  confronts  them.  When  a  man  knows 
that  he  is  sick  and  begins  to  seek  a  remedy,  there 
is  hope.  The  Church  is  beginning  to  learn  that  the 
^  vast  majority  of  men  cannot  be  driven  to  attend  ser- 


158  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

vices;  they  can  only  be  attracted.  If  the  old  meth- 
ods are  worn  out  and  ineffective,  it  is  folly  and  sin 
to  continue  their  operation.  The  Church  has  a  Gos- 
pel, but  needs  to  study  its  intelligent  application. 
The  truth  may  be  the  same  and  the  need:  may  be  the 
same,  but  the  method  must  change  with  the  time. 
The  change  in  the  church  building  ought  to  corre- 
spond with  the  changes  in  present-day  architecture. 
The  idea  of  utility  or  adaptiveness  is  always  fore- 
most in  other  buildings.  A  manufacturing  building 
is  made  for  manufacturing  purposes.  A  store  is  ar- 
ranged for  special  trade.  But  the  Church  has  not 
always  considered  usefulness,  or  even  attractiveness. 
Vast  sums  of  money  are  used,  but  there  is  no  light, 
no  room,  no  ventilation,  no  comfort,  but  an  echo, 
and  a  sepulchral  appearance.  There  are  pillars  and 
arches  and  shadows  but  no  people. 

The  Church  should  adopt  business  ways  and  prin- 
ciples. Many  churches  fail  conspicuously  in  con- 
ducting their  own  finances.  The  successful  church 
must  be  the  cosmopolitan  and  democratic  church. 
There  should  be  no  social  distinctions  manifested  in 
the  work  of  the  Church.  The  newer  group,  compris- 
ing the  rooming  house  population,  are  not  accus- 
tomed to  the  pew  rent  system  which  is  in  vogue  in 
many  of  our  downtown  churches.  "An  old  sailor 
went  into  a  fashionable  church  in  one  of  our  cities, 
and  the  doors  of  the  pews  were  shut  as  he  came  up 
the  aisle,  and  the  church  was  filled  with  emptiness, 
neither  men  nor  Gospel  being  there.  He  passed  up 
the  aisle  vainly  looking  for  a  seat.  He  was  directed 


SUMMARY  159 

to  a  back  row.  He  walked  out,  and  at  the  door-way 
asked  the  sexton  what  church  it  was.  'Christ's,'  re- 
sponded the  sexton.  'I  guess  he  isn't  here  tonight,' 
replied  the  sailor." 

The  failure  of  the  Church  to  reach  men  is  due  to 
a  misunderstanding  of  the  mission  of  the  Church. 
The  Church  is  not  a  charitable  institution,  nor  an 
educational  institution,  nor  a  centre  of  philanthropy 
and  culture,  but  it  is  primarily  the  place  of  regenera- 
tion, and  conversion  and  eternal  salvation.  It  is  the 
fortification  of  righteousness  in  the  great  battle 
against  sin  and  wrong.  It  is  a  mockery  of  the  sacri- 
fice of  Christ  and  a  sad  perversion  of  truth,  to 
teach  that  the  Church  ought  to  have  most  to  do  with 
this  life.  The  Church  has  her  faults.  Her  leaders 
admit  it.  But  these,  alone,  do  not  account  for  the 
absence  of  men  from  her  services.  The  hindrance 
to  church  attendance  rests  in  the  individual  as  well 
as  on  the  Church.  Men  do  not  want  to  attend 
church  and  consequently  manufacture  all  kinds'  of 
excuses.  The  Church  is  a  mighty  factor  in  human 
society,  here  and  now,  but  its  first  and  fundamental 
work  is  to  minister  to  the  needs  of  the  soul.  The 
emphasis  upon  the  present  at  the  expense  of  the 
future,  and  the  emphasis  upon  the  body  instead  of 
the  soul,  has  wrought  untold  injury,  and  rooted  a 
poisonous  misunderstanding  in  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  men.  The  Church  has  a  social  mission,  but  it 
has  first  a  saving  mission.  Social  grievances  and 
misrepresentations  have  seriously  affected  the  work 
of  the  Church. 


160  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

The  most  powerful  agency  for  uplift  in  this  district 
is  the  public  school.  Dr.  Brumbaugh,  Superinten- 
dent of  Public  Schools  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia, 
said,  in  his.  annual  report  for  the  year  ending  Dec. 
31,  1908 :  "There  is,  perhaps-,  no  equal  group  in  so- 
ciety that  makes  more  powerfully  for  right  living 
than  do  the  teachers  in  our  schools.  They  are  not 
only  required  by  law  to  be  persons  of  high  moral 
character,  but  the  nature  of  the  service  they  render 
is  such  as  to  attract  and  conserve  the  finest  charac- 
ters society  can  produce.  The  moral  character  of 
the  teaching  body  is  so  far  above  criticism  that  it  is 
made  the  subject  of  emulation  and  eulogy  by  right- 
minded  persons.  It  is  a  hopeful  sign  that  this  high 
standard  not  only  exists  but  is  constantly  increasing. 
Our  teaching  body  is  a  source  of  gratification  and 
pride  to  our  civilization. 

"Moreover,  the  school  is  so  organized  that  it  is 
essentially  ethical  in  its  entire  spirit  and  operation. 
The  pupil  in  the  public  school  is  under  a  system  of 
activities^  that  promotes  not  only  his  intellectual  but 
also  his  moral  and  his  spiritual  well-being.  From 
the  moment  the  pupil  enters  the  school  till  he  com- 
pletes his  routine  of  duties,  he  is  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  punctuality,  promptness,  regularity, 
industry,  neatness,  accuracy  and  kindred  virtues  of 
the  moral  life.  He  is  also  given  to  understand  the 
importance  of  kindness,  courtesy,  conscientiousness, 
respect  for  others  and  for  law,  fair  play  among  his 
fellowsi,  and  devotion  to  clean  and  noble  ideals.  These 
qualities  are  constructively  wrought  in  his  daily  life, 


SUMMARY  161 

and  by  the  discipline  of  the  school,  any  violation 
thereof  is  promptly  and  adequately  punished.  The 
entire  spirit  of  any  rightly  organized  school  makes 
for  a  sane  and  splendid  spiritual  self." 

Example  and  environment  are  potent  forces  in  th* 
organization  of  soul-growth.  Attention  must  be  paid 
to  the  physical  needs  of  the  child.  Medical  inspec- 
tion is  carried  on,  and  trained  nurses  have  been 
placed  in  charge  of  the  children  in  the  most  con- 
gested sections  of  the  city.  Hygienic  counsel  is 
given  to  the  parents.  Much  good  has  been  accom- 
plished in  this  way.  The  school  yards  should  be 
larger  so  that  the  child  might  have  a  chance  to  play. 
School  yards  should  be  kept  open  during  the  after- 
noons and  on  Saturdays  and  part  of  Sunday  for  or- 
ganized and  supervised  play.  Jud&e  Staake  says: 
"If  you  want  to  lessen  the  burdens  of  the  Juvenile 
Court,  establish  play  grounds."  In  the  "furnished 
apartments  to  let"  children  live  in  a,  single  room. 
To  these  children  play  is  not  only  physically,  but 
morally  a  necessity  and  an  essential  part  of  their 
education,. 

Various  amusements  are  found  in  the  rooming 
district,  or  within  easy  walking  distance.  The  most 
popular  form  of  amusement  is  the  moving  picture 
show.  A  censorship  of  the  pictures  such  as  is  carried 
on.  in  New  York  City,  is  needed.  Vulgar  and  inde- 
cent films  should  be  excluded.  Public  sentiment  has 
been  aroused  in  this  direction  and  a  distinct  im- 
provement in  the  character  of  the  exhibitions  has 
been  noticed.  Principals  of  the  public  schools  and 


162  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

teachers  in  general  hold  that  the  picture  shows  exert 
a  baneful  influence  upon  the  children.  There  is 
abundant  evidence  that  the  average  roomer  prefers 
a  clean  show.  Many  of  the  theatres  of  the  Tender- 
loin are  vile  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  these  per- 
formances are  patronized  by  roomers,  to  any  great 
extent. 

One  of  the  oldest  social  institutions  in  the  city  is 
the  saloon.  It  has  flourished  since  the  days  of  Wm. 
Penn  under  all  conditions,  changing  in  minor  details*, 
but  vital  enough  to  outlive  the  fiercest  assaults  of  its 
enemies.  It  meets  certain  definite  needs  or  it  would 
not  exist.  It  flourishes  in  this  particular  locality  as 
nowhere  else.  In  Philadelphia  there  is  one  saloon 
to  every  816  of  the  population.  In  the  6th,  10th, 
llth,  12th,  13th  and  14th  wards  there  is  one  saloon 
to  every  346  of  the  population.  On  the  whole,  the 
saloons  of  Philadelphia  are  conducted  according  to 
law.  Even  Mr.  Gibboney,  the  faithful  secretary  of 
the  Law  and  Order  Society,  admits  this.  He  only 
presented  three  remonstrances  against  saloons  in  this 
district  before  the  License  Court  in  1911.  After 
careful  consideration  on  the  part  of  the  court,  the 
licenses  were  renewed.  The  strong  feature  of  the 
ealoon  is  that  it  is  always  open  and  accessible.  The 
natural  and  rightful  competitor  of  the  saloon  is  the 
home.  But  before  home-life  begins  houses  should  be 
provided  with  the  elementary  conditions  of  sanita- 
tion, privacy  and  space.  Yet  these  are  denied  thou- 
sands of  working  men  and  women  in  our  city,  who 
seek  in  the  saloon  what  they  should  find  in  the  home. 


SUMMARY  163 

If  the  saloon  is  the  unmitigated  evil  its  enemie&would 
have  us  believe,  it  would  have  met  the  fate  of  the 
unfit  ere  this.  To  replace  it  we  must  give  men  what 
the  saloon  offers.  It  is  the  only  meeting  ground  for 
friends  and  neighbors.  It  is  the  only  place  where  a 
man  can  spend  an  hour  in  the  company  of  his  kind. 
It  is  the  place  where  the  man  who  is  out  of  a  job 
can  find  a  position.  Why  do  our  temperance  reform- 
ers not  try  to  meet  these  every- day  needs  of  men, 
and  establish  social  centers  where  men  may  congre- 
gate? The  Society  for  the  Prevention  o"f  Cruelty 
to  Animals  erects  watering  troughs  for  horses  in,  all 
sections  of  the  city,  why  not  organize  a  society  to 
build  lavatories  and  resting  places  for  men  and  serve 
"lunch"  at  a  nominal  price?  Instead  of  spending 
thousands  of  dollars  annually  to  legislate  the  saloon 
out  of  existence  as  is  the  case  with  the  organization 
known  as  the  Anti- Saloon  League,  why  not  spend 
that  large  amount  in  establishing  a  substitute  for 
the  saloon  ? 

Prostitution  appears  under  different  guises  in  this 
district.  First  there  are  a  number  of  regular  houses 
of  prostitution.  Residents  of  the  district  and  shop- 
keepers know  these  houses  for  what  they  are,  but  it 
is  extremely  difficult  to  get  evidence  that  will  satisfy 
the  courts'  and  secure  conviction.  A  more  frequent 
type  of  disreputable  house  is  conducted  under  the 
guise  of  "massage  parlors."  Some  are  conducted 
under  the  guise  of  "apartment  houses'."  In  some 
houses  women  of  loose  character  live  who  bring  men 
to  their  rooms  whenever  they  please.  This  is  com- 


164  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

monly  known  as  a  house  with  "privileges."  Many 
houses  take  lodgers  that  may  come  at  any  hour  of 
the  day  or  night.  "Rooms  for  Transients — Day  or 
Night"  are  the  signs  they  display.  Such  houses  are 
the  rivals  of  the  hotel,  for  the  accommodation,  of 
those  transient  couples  who  ostensibly  as  man  and 
wife  always  "have  just  arrived  in  the  city  and  want 
a  room  for  the  night,"  Immoral  practices  are  easy 
in,  a  rooming  house,  and  are  often  carried  on  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  landlady. 

The  most  dangerous  phase  of  immorality  in  the 
rooming  house  is  the  large  number  of  temporary 
unions  that  are  formed  under  the  outward  guise  of 
marriage.  In  the  chapter  under  Crime  and  Prosti- 
tution we  recorded  instances  of  crime  resulting 
from  such  illicit  combinations.  It  is  impossible  to 
procure  any  accurate  information  on  this  subject, 
but  the  testimony  of  persons  acquainted  with  room- 
ing house  life  indicates  that  a  revelation  of  the 
actual  number  of  such  temporary  unions  existing  at 
any  one  time  would  cause  us  to  "sit  up  and  take 
notice."  The  isolation  of  the  young  life  from  com- 
panionship and  friends"  renders  the  potentialities  of 
such  acquaintanceships  very  great.  Two  people  often 
strike  up  a  temporary  alliance  for  the  sake  of  eomr 
panionship  and  saving  expense.  The  union,  though 
illegal,  is  often  happy.  In  many  cases  marriage  is 
looked  forward  to  as  soon  as  the  couple  feel  they  can 
afford  it.  There  are  numerous  instances  on  record 
where  couples  who  had  been  living  together  in  such 
an  illegitimate  relation  for  years  were  married.  In 


SUMMARY  165 

other  cases  temporary  unions  are  formed  where  the 
motive  of  the  girl  is  to  find  support  and  be  relieved 
from  the  necessity  of  working  in  a  store  or  factory, 
and  that  of  the  man  gratification.  Economic  reasons 
play  an  important  part  in  the  formation  of  these 
temporary  unions.  Many  employers  pay  low  wages, 
with  the  hope  that  their  girl  employee  will  find  some 
"gentleman  friend"  to  help  her.  Temporary  unions 
of  this  kind  are  frequently  formed  for  the  winter 
months,  and  re-formed  between  different  parties  the 
following  autumn.  Ministers  of  this  district  are 
not  infrequently  called  upon  to  look  after  some 
young  woman  from  the  country  living  in  such  rela- 
tionships. These  temporary  unions  are  avenues 
through  which  recruits  are  secured  for  the  prosti- 
tute class.  A  woman,  loses  all  the  self-respect  that 
remains  after  she  has  been  "thrown  down"  by  a 
man.  Then  the  way  to  prostitution  is  open. 

One  of  the  most  urgent  needs  of  this  district  is 
the  establishment  of  philanthropic  hotels  or  board*- 
ing  houses  for  working  girls.  The  author  of  "The 
Long  Day"  clearly  and  strikingly  presents  this  need 
in  the  following  words :  "We  have  a  great  and  cry- 
ing need  for  two  things — things  which  it  is  entirely 
within  the  power  of  a  broad-minded  philanthropy  to 
supply.  The  most  urgent  of  these  needs  is  a  very  mater- 
ial and  unpoetic  one.  We  need  a  well-regulated  system 
of  boarding  and  lodging  houses  where  we  can  live 
with  decency  upon  the  small  wages  we  receive.  We 
do  not  want  any  so-called;  working  girls  homes — God 
forgive  the  "euphemism — which,  while  overcharging 


16G  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

us  for  the  accommodations,  at  the  same  time  would 
put  us  in  the  attitude  of  charity  dependents.  What 
the  working  girl  needs  is  a  cheap  hotel  or  system  of 
hotels — for  she  needs  a  great  many  of  them — de- 
signed something  after  the  Mills  Hotels  for  work- 
ing men.  She  also  needs  a  system  of  well-regulated 
lodging  houses,  such  as  are  scattered  all  over  the 
city  for  the  benefit  of  men. 

"First  and  most  important  there  must  be  no  sem- 
blance of  charity.  Let  the  working  girl's  hotel  be 
so  constructed  and  conducted  that  they  will  pay  a 
fair  rate  of  interest  upon,  the  money  invested. 
Otherwise  they  would  fail  of  any  true  philanthropic 
object. 

"As  -to  their  conduct  as  institutions  there  should 
be  no  rules,  no  regulations  which  are  not  in  full 
operation  in  the  Waldorf-Astoria  or  the  hotel  St. 
Regis.  The  curse  of  all  such  attempts  in  the  past 
has  been  the  insistence  upon  coercive  morality. 
Make  them  not  only  non-sectarian  but  non-religious. 
There  is  no  more  need  of  conducting  a  working  girl's 
hotel  in  the  name  of  God  or  under  the  auspices  of 
religious  sentiment  than  there  is  necessity  for  ad- 
vertising the  Martha  Washington,  Hotel  or  any 
fashionable  bachelor  apartment  house  as  being  un- 
der divine  guidance. 

"A  clean  room  and  three  wholesomely  cooked 
meals  a  day  can  be  furnished'  to  working  girls  at  a 
price  that  would  make  it  possible  for  them  to  live 
honestly  on  the  small  wage  of  the  factory  and  store. 
We  do  not  ask  for  luxuries  and  dainties.  We  do  not 


SUMMARY  167 

get  them  in  the  miserable,  dark  rooms  where  we 
are  obliged  to  sleep,  and  we  do  not  get  them  at  the 
unappetizing  boarding  houses  where  countless  thou- 
sands of  us  find  sustenance.  I  do  not  know — I  sup- 
pose nobody  knows — how  many  working  girls  in 
New  York  City  live  in  lodging  houses.  But  they 
are  legion  and  very  few  of  them  are  contented  with 
that  life. 

"In  the  model  lodging  house  there  should  be  per- 
fect liberty  of  conduct  and  action  on  the  part  of  the 
guests — who  will  not  be  inmates  in  any  sense  of  the 
word.     Such  guests  should  have  perfect  liberty  to 
come  and  go  when  they  please  at  any  hour  of  the 
day  or  night;  be  permitted  to  see  any  person  they 
may  choose  to  have  come,  without  question  or  chal- 
lenge, so  long  as  the  conventions  of  ordinary  social 
life  are  complied  with.     Such  an  institution  con- 
ducted on  such  a  plan  and  managed  so  that  it  would 
make  fair  returns  to  its  promoters,  cannot  fail  to  be 
welcomed;  and  would  be  of  inestimable  benefit  as  an.' 
uplifting    and    regenerative    force   with   those    for 
whom  it  is  designed."— The  Long  Day,  pp.  285-288. 
No  ultimate  cure  of  the  problems  now  found  in 
this  district  will  be  reached  until  the  economic  con- 
ditions which  produce  them  are  changed.    When,  the 
clerk,  the  bookkeeper  and  the  stenographer  is  recog- 
nized as  entitled  to  receive  a  living  wage,  when  the 
public  realizes  that  the  female  stenographer  and  the 
girl  in  the  department  store  is  under  just  as  great 
expenses  as  the  man  beside  her,  who  is  doing  the 
same  work  at  a  higher  wage,  and  when  a  proper 


168  THE  FURNISHED  ROOM  PROBLEM 

adjustment  takes  place,  some  of  the  basic  causes  of 
the  rooming  house  problem  will  be  removed.  We 
cannot  expect  young  men  and  women  from  the  rural 
districts  to  fit  into  the  complexities  of  our  city  life 
at  once.  In  many  cases  they  have  not  had  the  moral 
training  to  carry  safely  the  freedom  thrust  upon 
them  by  their  new  environment.  The  home  is  partly 
to  blame  for  this  state  of  affairs.  The  school  is  very 
largely  to  blame.  The  primary  business  of  the 
school  is  to  fit  men  to  take  their  proper  place  in  the 
state,  to  train  them  for  participation  in  the  social 
and  economic  progress  of  the  nation.  This  is  not  a 
treatise  on  education.  We  merely  wrish  to  show 
that  the  school  has  a  share  in  the  responsibility  of 
training  young  men  and  women  for  their  proper 
spheres  in  life.  The  boys  and  girls  of  today,  who 
are  to  be  the  men  and  women  of  tomorrow,  and  who. 
must  go  out  and  face  all  sorts  of  new  situations, 
must  have  above  all  things  an  education  which  will 
put  them  in  possession  of  themselves  wherever  they 
are.  They  must  be  shown  how  to  retain  the  moral 
grip  on  themselves.  They  must  be  shown  how  to 
rise  above  their  environment.  Education,  of  the 
generation  that  is  to  form  the  lodging  house  popula- 
tion of  the  future  will  not  only  strengthen  the  indi- 
vidual who  must  undergo  the  life  of  the  "roomer," 
but  it  will  prove  a  leaven  in  the  rooming  house 
population  itself. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


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170  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

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BIBLIOGRAPHY  171 

W.  Douglass  Morrison,  Juvenile  Offenders.  Apple- 
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